Italian giants AC Milan snatched a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Parma in the Serie A on Sunday. An own goal by Giuseppe Cardone and efforts from Andriy Shevchenko, Alberto Gilardino and Ricardo Kaka secured the victory for Rossoneri while Paolo Cannavaro and Marco Marchionni scored for Parma. The result moved Milan into the second place with 40 points, nine points adrift of first-place Juventus. Cannavaro gave his side a shocking lead in the 24th minute after he capitalized on Milan keeper Dida's error, who failed to handle an easy ball, for an easy tap-in. Three minutes later, an own goal by Cardone gave Milan the equalizer when he converted Kaka's cross into his own net by mistake. Gilardino put Milan ahead in the 28th minute after he met Shevchenko's inch-perfect cross with a close-range header into the back of the net. Kaka added the third in the 35th minute as he drilled a low drive from the edge of the box into the bottom corner of the net. Marchionni pulled one back for the visitors in the 70th minute when he outpaced Milan's back four before sending an ice-cool finish past the advancing Dida. The European finalists looked as if they demolished Parma's hopes of returning to the game in the 81st minute when Manuel Rui Costa moved down the right flank, sidestepped a defender and fed Shevchenko who buried the ball home. Marchionni narrowed the gap five minutes before the final whistle when he ran easily through Milan's defense and fired a bullet that took a deflection off Dida and went into the net.
