Within a day of saying he would leave, Milan's chief executive was persuaded to stay and saw an immediate result

Sometimes, you need to go through hard times to find out who your friends are. That has certainly been Adriano Galliani's experience of late. On Friday, the Milan chief executive and acting vice-president announced that he would leave the club before the end of this month, bringing down the curtain on nearly 28 years of service. He felt that his position had been fatally undermined by criticisms from the owner's daughter, Barbara Berlusconi.

Galliani was soon inundated with sympathetic messages from the many footballing directors and dignitaries he has befriended over the years. Among others, he was reported to have received phone calls from both the Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez and Barcelona's Sandro Rosell.

One conversation, in particular, made Galliani's week. It was with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the striker whom he had not heard from since selling him to Paris Saint-Germain in 2012. "He told me that he was sorry about my situation and that he wished me well," said Galliani. "He had stopped speaking to me after we sold him, because he was so angry at me for breaking my promise that he could stay. So his call really made me happy."

Better yet would be the chat that Galliani had with Silvio Berlusconi over dinner on Friday night. The pair met in the presence of a mediator at the club owner's residence in Arcore, where they were expected to thrash out a golden handshake that could run to tens of millions of Euros. Instead Silvio quickly made it clear that he did not want Galliani to leave, persuading his old friend to work in tandem with Barbara.

A new agreement on how the club should be structured was confirmed in a statement from the owner. "Milan's situation is serene once more," said Silvio. "I am happy to report that full agreement has been reached on a new club set-up in which there will be two chief executives: Adriano Galliani with responsibility for the sporting sector, and Barbara Berlusconi with responsibility for other sectors relating to the club's social activity."

In effect, Galliani had retained control of the club's footballing operations, while Barbara had been charged with strengthening its commercial and marketing efforts. How satisfied she will be with that arrangement is unclear; her greatest criticisms of the incumbent had been that he was spending the club's money poorly by relying too heavily on certain agents (Mino Raiola and Ernesto Bronzetti) and failing to construct a good enough scouting network to unearth cheap, young talents abroad.

One way or another, she will have to lump it for now. Expelled from the Italian senate on Wednesday, her father once more has time to focus on his football club. He had planned to drop in on the players at training on Saturday, but his helicopter was grounded due to snow.

A day later, there was Galliani at the Stadio Angelo Massimino, taking up his seat for the team's game away to Catania. If he was content with his new working arrangement, then he could be even more pleased with Milan's performance. After falling behind early on, they rallied to beat the Sicilians 3-1. It was their first league victory since 19 October, and their first all season away from home.

Galliani was especially delighted to see Kaká· score the team's third goal. His decision to sign the Brazilian this summer was portrayed by many people as a decadent act, inspired more by nostalgia than any level-headed assessment of what the player could contribute. And yet here was Kaká's third strike in nine days – having opened the scoring in both Milan's draw with Genoa on 23 November and their Champions League win over Celtic on Tuesday night.

"He is a phenomenon," glowed Galliani on Sunday. "On the goal, he told me that he was expecting Mario [Balotelli] to arrive in the middle for a cross. He didn't get there, so [Kaká] shot instead."

A fine effort it was too, clipped into the roof of the net at the near post. Milan's other two goals – a volley from Riccardo Montolivo and a low drive from Balotelli – were not too shabby either.

The match was marred, however, by allegations of racial abuse. Balotelli reacted angrily after a challenge from Nicolás Spolli, claiming that the Catania defender had called him "negro di merda" - "black piece of shit". Spolli could be banned for 10 games if found guilty of such an offence, but nobody else was close enough to hear their initial exchange. Without fresh video evidence, it seems unlikely that disciplinary action will be taken.

Balotelli was withdrawn by Massimiliano Allegri soon afterwards, although the Milan manager insisted that he was resting the player rather than guarding against any retaliation. Allegri, meanwhile, might be grateful for the recent boardroom shenanigans, which helped to deflect attention away from Milan's recent seven-game winless streak.

He continues to enjoy the support of Galliani, and indeed Barbara Berlusconi. Both parties recognise his achievement in qualifying for the Champions League last season despite the departures of Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Alessandro Nesta, Mark van Bommel, Alberto Aquilani, Gennaro Gattuso and Antonio Cassano – to name just a few.

But performances this season have not been up to scratch. Galliani must share the blame, having failed to address the team's defensive shortcomings during the summer transfer window. His plans to appoint a new sporting director – Fiorentina's Daniele Pradé and Verona's Sean Sogliano are the reported favourites – could be read as a tacit admission that Barbara Berlusconi's criticisms were not entirely unfounded.

For now he and the owner's daughter will continue their uneasy partnership. Time will tell if two heads can really be better than one.

Talking points

• Erick Thohir attended his first game as the owner of Inter on Sunday, watching his team concede an 89th minute equaliser in their 1-1 draw at home to Sampdoria. The Indonesian businessman received a warm welcome from the fans, but also got a realistic insight into the strengths and weaknesses of a team that has improved significantly under Walter Mazzarri, but remains far too passive at times. "[Mazzarri] has given back the alphabet to a group who no longer knew how to read or write," notes Sebastiano Vernazza in Monday's Gazzetta dello Sport. "But now comes the hard bit – composing an essay, coming up with ideas and never surrendering to the panic of a blank page."

• Roma, too, dropped points this weekend, although they were the ones who needed to come up with a last-gasp equaliser in a 1-1 draw away to Atalanta. Kevin Strootman's alert finish in the 90th minute was enough to preserve the Giallorossi's unbeaten record, but questions will be asked of their manager Rudi Garcia, who chose to start without a true striker up front - leaving Marco Borriello and Mattia Destro on the bench. The manager himself was more upset with the referee, Antonio Damato, for not awarding his team a penalty when Michele Canini appeared to handle in the box. "You can get rid of the 'appeared to'," said Garcia afterwards. "The whole stadium saw it … But it's best not to say anything. We will not seek alibis."

• Tensions were high for that Atalanta-Roma game, with 500 police and 400 stewards deployed in and around the stadium to prevent the two teams' fans from clashing. A long-standing rivalry exists between the clubs, and was stoked further over the summer when the Atalanta midfielder Giulio Migliaccio helped to drive a military tank over a car bearing Roma's colours (as well as another one, painted in the colours of Brescia). Atalanta's fans goaded the Giallorossi with a giant banner showing a picture of a tank on Sunday, but police managed to keep order.

• Antonio Cassano scored either the 100th or the 101st goal of his Serie A career against Bologna, depending on who is counting. The discrepancy relates to a goal scored by Sampdoria against Juventus in May 2008, which the striker considers his own, but which was officially listed as an own goal by the defender Cristian Molinaro. Either way, this latest strike was a peach, volleyed across goal and into the top corner with the inside of his foot (and Panagiotis Kone's effort for Bologna was not half-bad, either). Sadly, Fantantonio did not get to celebrate his achievement in the ideal manner, breaking his nose in the second-half of Parma's 1-1 draw.

• Fernando Llorente's injury-time winner against Udinese moved Juventus three points clear at the top of Serie A, but the coolest story in Turin on Sunday was to be found in the stands. After being ordered to close two stands to punish fans who had sung derogatory chants about people from Naples, Juventus instead sought permission to fill those parts of their stadium by giving free tickets to children under the age of 13. They were allowed to do so, and subsequently gave out more than 12,000 tickets to kids from local schools and football teams, as well as their own Soccer School.

Results: Parma 1-1 Bologna, Genoa 1-1 Torino, Catania 1-3 Milan, Chievo 3-0 Livorno, Atalanta 1-1 Roma, Inter 1-1 Sampdoria, Cagliari 2-2 Sassuolo, Juventus 1-0 Udinese. Fiorentina play Verona and Lazio host Napoli on Monday night

• Serie A table