Christian Pulisic and AC Milan notched their most impressive win of the season so far in Roma, while Andrija Novakovich scored in his debut with Lecco in a wild season-opening loss.
AS Roma 1 – 2 AC Milan
AC Milan’s strong start to the new Serie A campaign kept rolling along, with a convincing road win over Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma on Friday by Christian Pulisic and his teammates giving an early indication that they are top title contenders.
As in prior games, Pulisic was deployed on the right side of the three-man front, making 28 touches in his 77 minutes, forcing a save with his only shot, completing all but one of his 19 passing attempts, creating an additional two chances, taking one corner, hitting two of his three crosses accurately, while making four recoveries and only being dispossessed only one time.
Yunus Musah was on the Milan bench, but was not called into action.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek broke into the area just past the five-minute mark after playing a quick one-two with Olivier Giroud. While his initial shot was blocked, the VAR officials judged that he was tripped up by Rui Patricio while trying to knock in the follow-up, giving the visitors an early penalty.
The Frenchman had no problem nailing his spot kick to the upper left corner for his fourth goal of the season, putting the Rossoneri in the advantage.
Pulisic came painfully close in the 22nd minute, taking a short hop to meet Rafael Leao’s deep cross from the left, however, his one-timed attempt was adeptly pushed over the crossbar by Patricio.
Three minutes into the second half, the Portuguese attacking maestro made it 2-0 for the visitors, keeping his marking defender at just enough distance with his back to goal, in order to drop down and connect with Davide Calabria’s cross from the right side with a spectacular overhead kick that took everybody in the stadium off-guard.
In the 57th minute, Pulisic tried to pick out Tijjani Reijnders just beyond the penalty spot, however, the Dutch midfielder didn’t connect well, and his header was easily saved by Patricio.
Just past the hour, Milan defender Fikayo Tomori was perhaps harshly sent off for a second yellow. While the introduction of new Roma arrival Romelu Lukaku several minutes later might have had the depleted Rossoneri defense concerned in the Belgian forward’s more dominant days, the visitors still managed to weather the storm as comfortably as could be expected.
Leonardo Spinazzola did score a consolation goal for the hosts two minutes into added time, capping off a fine run with a blast from the edge of the area that took a slight deflection into Mike Maignan’s goal.
However, that was the final bright moment for Mourinho’s men, with Milan breathing a sigh of relief and taking all three points after the final whistle.
The victory gives Milan a perfect nine points from three games, although they trail their city rivals Inter by goal differential at the top of the standings. Following the international break, the two teams will meet on Saturday, September 16 in the 238th Derby della Madonnina.
Empoli 0 – 2 Juventus
The USMNT tag team kept going strong for Juventus on Sunday night, albeit in reverse order to their previous games, as Weston McKennie earned the start and Tim Weah relieved his USMNT compatriot late in the game in a stress-free victory over Empoli.
McKennie started the game for head coach Massimiliano Allegri in a wide right wingback role and played 83 minutes before making way for Weah. During his time, he completed 84% of his 31 passing attempts, took one shot and created one chance, and won all three of his tackles and all four of his duels, while committing no fouls against opposing players.
A 24th-minute corner rattled around in the six-yard box, and the Empoli defenders’ inability to clear the ball gave Danilo the chance to slam it home from eight yards for the 1-0 lead.
12 minutes later, McKennie fed the onrushing Federico Gatti with a short lay-off into the area, only for the defender to be bowled over by Youssef Maleh for a fairly obvious penalty call. However, Dusan Vlahovic’s attempt to the left side was blocked by keeper Etrit Berisha, keeping Juve’s advantage at only one goal.
Federico Chiesa added the visitors’ second and final goal with nine minutes left in regulation, running past the defense on a fine through-ball from Arkadiusz Milik, rounding Berisha, and, after a short stumble, slotting from the left side into the open net for the 2-0 advantage.
Weah’s 83rd-minute introduction for McKennie ended up being a somewhat extended outing thanks to seven minutes of added time. While his only attempt on goal was blocked, he came close to triggering a third score for Juventus, sending a long cross from deep left to the edge of the six-yard box, only for Milik’s header to deflect off the crossbar.
The victory pushes Juventus to third place, just behind the Milan teams. Following the international break, they host Lazio, in the next opportunity to potentially see the team’s American duo on the field together.
Palermo 3 – 0 Feralpisalò
New USMNT convert Kristoffer Lund celebrated his first call-up by Gregg Berhalter by playing the last half-hour of Palermo’s three-goal win over promoted Feralpisalò in Serie B action on Saturday.
By the time that Lund took the field in place of left-back Giuseppe Aurelio in the 62nd minute as a part of a double-switch, the Sicilian team was already in a commanding position with a 2-0 lead.
Roberto Insigne opened the scoring after 15 minutes for the hosts, holding up his run to receive a short cross from Liam Henderson just inside the area, and angling his low looper past Feralpisalò keeper Samuel Pizzignacco at the lower left corner.
Their second goal came moments after the restart, after Jacopo Segre stole the ball in the left flank, and cut a diagonal pass forward to Leo Stulac for a low, 17-yard finish to the right side of the goal.
Following his introduction, Lund was an active presence, with 19 touches, nine completed passes in 10 attempts, three of which were into the final attacking third, one chance created, and a pair each of clearances and recoveries.
With five minutes left in regulation, Federico Di Francesco and Edoardo Soleri played a quick give-and-go to get the former into space in the middle of the area for a perfect finish to complete the 3-0 victory.
The result leaves Palermo in fifth place heading into the break, albeit with one fewer game played than three of the four teams ahead of them.
Lecco 3 – 4 Catanzaro
Andrija Novakovich was impressive with his new team Lecco, albeit in a losing effort, scoring on his debut and generally pestering the opposing defense during the team’s wild loss in their delayed season-opener against Catanzaro.
Several days after joining the promoted club from fellow Serie B team Venezia, the American made the most of his 85 minutes. In addition to his goal to spring Lecco back to life, he took a total of four shots, three of which were on-target, set up an additional chance, completed two passes into the final third, made three recoveries, and won three of seven duels.
Pietro Iemmello put the hosts ahead just past the half-hour when he headed in a cross from Jari Vandeputte, and then the Belgian scored one of his own after he was released by a deep pass from Dimitrios Sounas on a counter.
The visitors dropped the intensity by several levels following their second score, and Novakovich was the first to capitalize, getting his head on a corner by Franco Lepore, then knocking in the rebound after Catanzaro keeper Andrea Fulignati made the initial save.
A similar situation led to the equalizing goal in the 83rd minute, this time with Alessandro Caporale finishing the job after Novakovich again forced Fulignati into a snap save.
Moments after the American left in favor of Umberto Eusepi, the visitors added a pair of rapid-fire goals to seemingly wrap up the points; Luca Verna cleaned up a blocked header from close range for the 3-2 lead in the 86th, then Alfredo Donnarumma took advantage of a goalkeeping error to give his team the 4-2 advantage two minutes later.
Lecco had one last card to play and brought themselves back to within a goal in the 92nd minute when Novakovich’s replacement Eusepi connected with Franco Lepore’s cross for a close-range score.
While they kept the pressure on for the remaining six minutes of added time, Lecco could not break through and were forced to come away from their opening game of the season empty-handed.
Novakovich and his teammates now have two weeks off for the international break before they resume play, with a visit from regional rival Brescia in store on September 16.
Cittadella 0 – 0 Venezia
Tanner Tessmann played the majority of Venezia’s game at Cittadella in the center of their five-man midfield, with Gianluca Busio replacing his American teammate in the dying seconds of their scoreless draw on Sunday night following an apparent injury.
A relatively quiet affair saw the respective backlines and keepers take center stage, in particular with Venezia keeper Jesse Joronen making five saves, and Paolo Vanoli’s three-man backline forming a wall against the Cittadella attack.
Tessmann was strong as usual, completing 75% of his 40 passes, creating a pair of chances, taking one shot, winning all three of his dribbles, accurately hitting five out of seven long balls, winning nine of 16 duels, and making a pair of clearances.
His exit from the game in the final moments was prompted by what looked to be an ankle injury on an attempted tackle from the opposition, however, the severity of the problem is not yet known.
Venezia occupies fourth place and will host struggling Spezia after the international break.
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