Italy midfielder Tonali struck with almost identical goals created by Rafael Leao either side of half-time to ensure they stay ahead of local rivals Inter Milan in a Scudetto race which looks to be heading to the wire.

The 22-year-old’s double was the second time in three matches he has been crucial to Milan’s title charge after also netting a last-minute winner at Lazio a fortnight ago.

Tonali thought he had opened the scoring in the 15th minute when he raced onto a long ball from goalkeeper Mike Maignan and slotted past Lorenzo Montipo, only for the wild celebrations among the away fans to be cut short by a tight offside ruling via VAR.

After also going close through Davide Calabria, Milan fans started thinking about a Stadio Bentedgodi hoodoo — the seven-time European champions have thrown away two league titles at Verona — six minutes before the break when Davide Faraoni finished off a beautiful Verona move by nodding home Darko Lazovic’s floated cross.

However Tonali had a deserved goal deep into first-half stoppage time when after Leao burst into the box he met the Portugal attacker’s pass and pushed in the equaliser.

It galvanised Milan who were in front shortly after the restart thanks to a carbon copy effort, the only real difference being that Leao’s low pass for Tonali’s second was with his left foot.

From then on Milan were in almost complete control and Alessandro Florenzi made sure Milan continued their charge for a first league crown since 2011 when he exchanged passes with Junior Messias before rifling home his second Serie A goal of the season.

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