Udinese hosted AC Milan on Tuesday night, looking to put an end to a run of three straight defeats that has seen them slip into the bottom three.
The visitors, meanwhile, under the new leadership of Sinisa Mihajlovic, were going for back-to-back wins. A victory at the Stadio Friuli would make it three successes out of five to begin the season.
Team news
Mario Balotelli started for AC Milan in place of Luiz Adriano having passed a late fitness test, so he threatened to add an extra dynamic to the Rossoneri frontline. Nigel De Jong returned to the starting XI, playing alonside Giacomo Bonaventura and Ricardo Montolivo in the midfield trio.
For Udinese, Antonio Di Natale returned at centre forward as Duvan Zapata started from the back. Edenilson, somewhat surprisingly, got the nod ahead of Widmer for the hosts.
Milan took to the field wearing their new and rather striking third shirt; dark green in colour with neon trim, but the rainbow style shorts are much tougher to describe.
Mario Balotelli, sporting a new hair cut, won a dangerous free kick inside four minutes when Mattia De Sciglio fed him inside after great work on the left flank.
Milan take a swift lead
Staring at the ball with real focus, the striker stepped up and curled a fantastic shot into the top left corner, past a motionless Orestis Karnezis, to make it 1-0 to Milan.
It was a sucker punch for Udinese, who had conceded from the first real half chance of the game, but hats must be tipped to 'Super Mario' for what was a truly breathtaking strike
The Devils doubled their advantage on the 10 minute mark courtesy of Giacomo Bonaventura and some suspect defending by Udinese.
Wague and Domizzi split, allowing Bonaventura to ghost through the middle, tempting Montolivo into an ariel through ball that the midfielder placed to perfection. That allowed 'Jack' to bring the ball down and finish calmly, making it 2-0 to Milan.
Goalscorer Balotelli and 18-year-old right back Davide Calabria picked up quick bookings as referee Daniele Doveri had no hesitation brandishing early cards.
Montolivo volleyed wide with an effort in the 24th minute, while two ticks later Honda squared to Bacca unselfishly when he could have taken the shot on himself; the Colombian fluffing his lines.
As the game descended into a scrappy midfield battle - one which Milan dominated for the most part - it looked as though Udinese had regathered themselves enough to go in just two goals down at the break.
Another one for AC
That was until the 45th minute, when a scrambled effort from Keisuke Honda resulted in a corner.
Cristian Zapata rose highest at the back stick and nodded it across goal into the far corner to the dismay of the Udine boys, who must have been feeling like the night couldn't get any worse.
The score at half time was 3-0 in favour of Milan, and Stefano Colantuono had a real task to motivate his side in order to avoid an embarassing scoreline.
In truth, the Rossoneri deserved all the plaudits for an exceptional and clinical first half performance, and Mihajlovic will have been ordering more of the same.
However Milan were dealt a blow as Calabria was forced off injured, and with no full back on the bench he had to be replaced by Alex, with Zapata moving to right back.
Udinese strive for a comeback
Sure enough, Udinese were handed a lifeline in the 6th minute of the second half when Badu scored a wonderful half volley from the edge of the box.
The ball fell for him kindly, and the Ghanian obliged with a sweet shot that beat Diego Lopez. Game on at 1-3. The comeback was then well and truly on as substitute Duvan Zapata made it 3-2 with an easy tap-in finish.
Cyril Thereau broke free on the left side of the area before slipping a ball across goal that made it harder for Zapata to miss than score.
A full indication of the change in momentum was shown when attacking midfielder Honda made way for Andrea Poli with just under half an hour left.
Bonaventura, already with a goal to his name, found space to shoot 20 yards out in the 66th minute, but pulled his effort wide right.
Milan hold out for the win
Approaching the 70th minute, Milan were all at sea again. Fernandes rolled a pass down the right side for Di Natale, who fired into the middle with his first touch.
Thereau almost got there as Lopez was forced to wipe out his defender to claim the ball just in time.
The ineffectual Carlos Bacca made way for Luiz Adriano with ten minutes of normal time remaining; Mihajlovic hoping the fresh legs would strech the Bianconeri defence in the closing minutes.
As the minutes ticked on Milan got more and more nervous, dropping deeper into their own territory as a result. There was the sense that Udinese would get one more opportunity in the closing minutes, and it was up to them to take it.
There was a moment of panic as Diego Lopez was called into action to tip a Fernandes effort over, but he was up to the task and the resulting corner was headed wide.
In the second minute of added time Fernandes was shown a red card for a second bookable offence after slamming the ball down in an act of dissent.
That proved to be the last meaningful action in a thoroughly entertaining game.
A tough pill to swallow for Udinese as they will feel their second half performance was enough for a point.
As for Milan, despite scoring three goals and winning there is an inquest to be held as to why the second 45 minutes was so poor from their perspective. Nevertheless, three points are three points in any way.
The win saw Milan move fourth temporarily, ahead of Roma, while Udinese remain in the drop zone after a fourth straight defeat.