MILAN - AC Milan put their early-season struggles to one side and beat Shakhtar Donetsk in a pulsating Champions League Group D encounter at the San Siro.
A pair of early headers from Alberto Gilardino and two second-half strikes from Clarence Seedorf propelled the Rossoneri to victory, with Cristiano Lucarelli's goal after the interval Shakhtar's only goal.
Winners of the Champions League last season, Milan have endured a nightmare start with Sunday's home defeat to Empoli leaving them 10 points adrift of Internazionale and without a win in Serie A at home.
Complicating matters was a moment of bad judgement by goalkeeper Dida in their last Champions League game at Celtic, an incident which left the Brazilian banned for Wednesday's match and led to Milan reserve Zeljko Kalac starting in his absence.
The dangerous Razvan Rat tried from distance and forced Kalac to dive to his left to deflect the ball past the post.
Milan took the lead in the sixth minute.
Andrea Pirlo swung in a corner and Gilardino rose to nod the ball past Shakhtar goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov at the near post.
Defender Olexandr Kucher was marking him closely, but failed to jump and made Gilardino's job easy.
It was the first goal conceded by Shakhtar, winners of their first two games, in the Champions League.
Former Livorno striker Lucarelli then headed a cross goalward for the visitors but Kalac saved easily.
Several minutes later and Kaka ran a full 35 yards and shot but Pyatov knocked the ball out for a corner.
Milan got their second immediately after, when Seedorf worked himself into space on the left and crossed to Gilardino, who again rose above Kuchar to head inside the near post past Pyatov.
Mircea Lucescu, the Shakhtar coach, replaced Kuchar with veteran Tomas Hubschman shortly after.
Milan could have extended their lead in the 26th minute when Shakhtar failed to clear and the ball fell to Kaka, who curled an effort from the edge of the area that the goalkeeper saved.
In the 36th minute, Mariusz Lewandowski hit a bullet from 30 yards but Kalac pushed the ball over the bar.
Shakhtar almost scored soon after when Brandao struck a left-foot shot from 15 yards that was on target but Kalac deflected over.
In the 40th minute, Ilsinho cut inside and took aim but his hard shot shaved the right post.
Then it was the Rossoneri's turn to attack again and Seedorf laid the ball off to Massimo Oddo in space only for his shot to hit the side-netting.
Right before half-time, Lucarelli had the ball just five yards from the goal but slipped as he tried to cross to Brandao at the far post.
Soon after the restart, Kaka raced into the box but instead of shooting, he decided to pass to Gennaro Gattuso and the ball rolled out of danger for Shakhtar.
They again threatened but Rat's left-footed shot from 18 yards missed left.
Six minutes into the second half and the Ukrainians scored after Oddo's attempted clearance was stopped by Brandao, and he shot, only for Kalac to dive and block.
The ball bounced away and Lucarelli struck it on the volley, into the centre of the goal.
Twice in two minutes, Ilsinho almost scored from close range but Kalac managed to save.
With the game being played at a frenetic pace, Kaka charged into the final third and held off Dmytro Chygrynskiy, who eventually lost his footing.
Kaka carried the ball to the byline, paused as if he was about to pass and shot, only for the ball to hit the far post and stay out.
In the 63rd minute, Seedorf scored to make it 3-1.
Pirlo swung in another corner and Seedorf hit the ball from 15 yards, smashing it off the right post and watching it cross over the line.
And in the 69th minute, Pirlo again produced a corner that the visitors failed to cope with.
The goalkeeper punched the ball out, and Seedorf struck a controlled volley from 30 yards that hit the back of the net.
Milan and Shakhtar now have six points in the group after three games.
