In what was perhaps the finest-ever weekend for Yanks in Italy, Yunus Musah set up Christian Pulisic’s winner to send AC Milan to the top of Serie A, Gianluca Busio and Tanner Tessmann both netted in Venezia’s win, while Tim Weah and Weston McKennie both earned the start for Juventus.
Genoa 0 – 1 AC Milan
Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah continued to raise their stock in Milan, with the two USMNT stars teaming up give AC Milan the late win over hosts Genoa on Saturday.
While playing only the second half of the game, Pulisic was the hero in the end, although he will have to share the limelight with fellow substitute Olivier Giroud, whose late save as an emergency goalkeeper preserved the victory.
Musah did find his way into the starting lineup for the third time in the last five games across all competitions, putting in a strong performance on the right side of Stefano Pioli’s midfield. He completed 75% of his 28 passes, accurately hit his only attempted long ball and one of his two crosses, won six out of 14 duels and drew four fouls.
The only real knock on his game might have been be his characteristic over exuberance on man-defense, where he committed three fouls, one of which generated his second yellow card of the season early in the second half.
After a stale first half from both sides, Pulisic and Rafael Leao were brought into the game for the second half, replacing the under-performing duo of Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze.
The Portuguese winger came close to putting the visitors ahead in the 64th minute; Musah advanced the ball up the right flank and slipped a pass forward to Alessandro Florenzi who immediately crossed to the far post, however Leao’s header was blocked by Genoa keeper Josep Martinez.
Milan keeper Mike Maignan kept his team on even footing with 14 minutes in regulation, barely clearing a deflected shot by Radu Dragusin that was headed towards the lower left corner.
With just over three minutes left in regulation, Musah received the ball deep in the right flank and launched a probing pass into a crowed of players standing near the penalty spot. Miraculously, Pulisic emerged from the crowd with the ball at his foot, spun to his left, and smacked the shot just inside the right upright for the eventual winner.
The drama was far from over, however, as nearly a quarter hour of added time saw one of the more remarkable finishes to a game in recent memory.
In the sixth minute of added time, Maignan came out of his box to punch away a deep pass before Caleb Ekuban could have a chance to attempt a breakaway shot. After a VAR review, it was clear that the Frenchman kneed Ghanaian international in the throat, leading to a straight red.
With all subs already used, Pulisic seemed to plea to Pioli at the sideline to let him take the gloves, however the coach opted to hand the emergency duties over to Giroud, who with a good six inches of height over the American, was the smart choice to deal with the resulting free kick and whatever else might come in the final minutes.
Several minutes later, Genoa lined up for a late corner, with their own keeper Martinez in the box as extra support. After Martinez upended a Milan player in the area trying to stop a clearance, he was shown a second yellow and was given his marching orders, although the hosts did remarkably have one substitution remaining to bring in a proper keeper in his place.
In the 15th minute of added time, Pioli’s choice to put Giroud in the nets ended up being fully vindicated, after he made a smart, aggressive save to block a shot from the onrushing George Puscas, effectively stifling Genoa’s last chance and securing the victory.
The wild victory puts the Rossoneri alone in first place in the Serie A standings, as Inter could only manage a draw against Bologna earlier in the day. With many of their stars reporting to international duty, they will hope to have fully healthy contingent of players available on Sunday, October 22 when they host Juventus.
Juventus 2 – 0 Torino
Weston McKennie and Tim Weah finally made it onto the field at the same time for Juventus on Saturday, with both going the distance to help the Bianconeri win the first Derby della Mole of the season over city rivals Torino.
After effectively tag-teaming for the first seven games of the season, the two USMNT compatriots were both handed starting roles by head coach Massimiliano Allegri, with Weah occupying the wide wingback role on the right, and McKennie tucked in just to his left in a more right-central role.
McKennie played more of a robust role in the midfield to help his team limit Torino to only a single shot on goal, with his only attempt a first-half header that was well wide of the mark.
Weah had one shot from distance blocked and had accuracy problems on his three attempted crosses, but was still solid bombing forward on the right side, while winning all but one of his duels, both of his tackles and making one interception on the defensive end. Most importantly, he played a direct role in the winning goal, while nearly setting up another.
Already in the fifth minute, Juve thought they were in the lead when Weah broke up the middle and slid a short pass out to Moise Kean on the right for an emphatic shot into the upper right corner, however the goal was called back after Kean was found to be offside in the build-up.
Federico Gatti did however put the Old Lady into the lead two minutes after the intermission. After Weah earned a corner, Vanja Milinkovic-Savic’s attempt to punch away Filip Kostic’s inswinging attempt was a whiff, with Gatti eventually slamming the ball home from shot range after several contacts in front of goal from both teams.
While the referee crew did initially disallow the goal for a perceived offside infraction, video replay reversed the call, giving the hosts the 1-0 lead.
Another Kostic corner lead to Juve’s second goal, this one a standard, but effective header from Arkadiusz Milik from inside the six-yard box to seal the victory.
The result leaves Juventus in third place following the weekend’s action, and they will visit leaders AC Milan after the international break.
Venezia 3 – 2 Parma
Tanner Tessmann and Gianluca Busio formed an effective one-two punch for Venezia on Saturday, netting the team’s first two goal in the team’s strong, confidence-building home win over Serie B leaders Parma.
Busio opened the scoring several moments into the second half, storming onto a short lay-off from Joel Pohjanpalo and striking his shot from inside the area to the right edge of goal.
While Parma did equalize in the 54th thanks to a penalty conversion from Adrian Benedyczak following Busio’s handball in the area, Tessmann restored the lead three minutes past the hour with a heads-up, opportunistic, diagonal strike from the right side of the area to the lower far corner.
Mikael Egill Ellertsson added a third for the hosts with 12 minutes in regulation, running onto Pohjanpalo’s cross and striking it with his first touch on a fast break. This ended up being the decisive move, as Antonio-Mirko Colak added Parma’s second in the 93rd minute, bringing the final score to 3-2 in favor of the hosts.
The result puts Venezia in third place in the division, just two behind their vanquished foes Parma, and one off of second-place Palermo. They return after the international break to visit 15th-place Reggiana.
Notes
Andrija Novakovich went the full 90 minutes for Lecco on Saturday, as yet another heavy-handed defeat kept them rooted at the bottom of the Serie B standings. Novakovich did create three chances and take a pair of shots in the 3-0 road loss to Cosenza.
Kris Lund kept his starting spot at left back for Palermo in the team’s 2-0 win over Modena on Saturday. The USMNT defender created 1 chance in 64 minutes of play before being subbed out, while putting in a generally solid defensive performance. The win keeps Palermo at the heels of Serie B leaders Parma, who they trail by one point, albeit with a game in hand.
