Tim Weah had the lucky assist on Juve’s winner over Milan, in a game that saw Christian Pulisic forced to be the Rossoneri’s sacrificial lamb following an early red card
AC Milan 0 – 1 Juventus
Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie and Tim Weah all started as Serie A giants AC Milan and Juventus met in the San Siro on Sunday night, however a rather stale contest following a first-half red card saw the visitors end up with the three points.
In a mostly expected development, all four Americans playing for Milan and Juve were named in their respective teams’ starting lineups on Sunday, only a few days after they shared the field in a pair of national team friendlies stateside.
While the game itself was hardly a ringing endorsement of the league that has become the highlight for USMNT fans this season, the winning goal from the visitors did come with a bit of assistance from Weah, who did suffer a minor injury in the final minutes.
Both McKennie and Weah kept their starting spots side-by-side in Massimiliano Allegri’s midfield. Both earned yellow cards during their time on the field although each put in solid contributions to help their team eventually pull out the win.
Weah was the more dynamic of the pair, taking one shot and setting up two chances, although McKennie did come close with a strike midway through the second half.
Pulisic and Musah were less notable on Milan’s right side, however this was largely predicated by their team’s difficult situation following Malick Thiaw’s red card late in the first half. Pulisic’s lone attempt was a header that was wide of the mark, while Musah did his best to keep the Milan formation from being overrun despite their disadvantage in numbers.
Milan’s clear dominance in the first half came to a screeching halt in the 40th minute when Thiaw inexplicably dragged Moise Kean to the turf as he worked up Juve’s attacking right flank. With no other Rossoneri defenders between the German central defender and his own goal, the referee had no choice but to show him the straight red, immediately altering the entire character of the contest.
Stefano Pioli had no choice but to remove an attacker to fortify the now-depleted Milan defense, and opted to make Pulisic the unlucky choice, bringing French defender Pierre Kalulu onto the field in his place for what would be an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to hang onto a point.
The difference in the game came in the 63rd minute at the tail-end of a nice build-up by the Bianconeri; Weah eventually wandered to the left half of the field to receive a pass, which he redirected laterally towards Manuel Locatelli, who was positioned deep, albeit with plenty of space to pick his point of attack.
The Italian international took only a couple steps before unleashing 30-yard strike towards goal. While his shot itself was a forceful blast that would have Milan backup keeper Antonio Mirante some trouble, it was still helped by a lucky deflection off of Rade Krunic’s knee, which sent it back toward the middle of goal, well out of the keeper’s reach.
Weah was eventually forced to leave the field in the 84th minute with what looked to be a relatively minor foot or toe injury, however quickly returned to the Juve bench after leaving the game, likely indicating only a minor setback.
As the dust settles on the weekend’s action, both teams remain near the top of the standings, however the Rossoneri fall to second behind city rivals Inter while Juve lurk one point behind in third.
Milan are back in action on Wednesday night with a difficult trip to PSG in Champions League action, then face an equally tough task when they visit reigning champions Napoli four days later.
Juve have an easier upcoming run, with no European action during the midweek and a visit to 16th-place Hellas on Saturday.
Reggiana 1 – 0 Venezia FC
Despite their best efforts, Gianluca Busio and Tanner Tessmann couldn’t help Venezia recover from a series of mishaps on Sunday evening, as they dropped a narrow 1-0 decision at Reggiana.
Busio started in central midfield for the visitors, putting in one of the better performances for his team over 90 minutes. He completed 83% of his 40 passing attempts, took a pair of shots, won three of his five attempted dribbles, accurately hit five of his nine long ball attempts, won two out of three tackles, made eight recoveries, won 13 out of 19 duels, while drawing four fouls from opposing players.
Tessmann was relegated to a substitute role in the game, playing the final 19 minutes as Venezia searched unsuccessfully for an equalizer. He set up one chance during his brief appearance, but did pick up his second yellow card of the season.
Venezia were handed the chance for the lead on a golden platter in the 37th minute when Reggiana midfielder Edoardo Pieragnolo clumsily let the ball brush his arm in the area. However, in front of a chorus of home-crowd boos, Joel Pohjanpalo weakly struck the resulting spot kick to the right side, where Francesco Bardi had no issues to make a straightforward save.
Two minutes after the halftime break, the hosts scored what would be the only goal of the game; Luca Cigarini sent a corner to the far upper corner of the six-yard box, and the Ivorian journeyman Cedric Gondo lept up to one-time his shot inside the near post.
Venezia left back Francesco Zampano was sent off shortly past the hour after receiving a second yellow for the slightly rough treatment of Gondo near midfield, leaving the visitors with a mountain to climb to salvage anything from the game.
In the end, the task was too large, and the team saw their two-game winning streak come to an end in the narrow loss.
Now in fourth place and still within shooting distance of the automatic promotion spots, the Winged Lions will take the field again on Sunday when they host 13th-place Pisa.
Palermo 2 – 2 Spezia
Kristoffer Lund notched his first assist of the Serie B season for Palermo in Monday-night Serie B action, helping the team return from an early deficit to take a point at home against Spezia.
Spezia’s Arkadiusz Reca gave the visitors a surprise lead just past the half-hour with a shot from the edge of the area, then Szymon Zurkowski found Francesco Pio Esposito in front of goal with a cross for a short-range finish in the 70th minute for the 2-0 lead.
Three minutes later, Lund sent Leonardo Mancuso through on goal into a one-on-one with Spezia keeper Bartlomiej Dragowski to start their come-back, then Leo Stulac netted the equalizer in the 14th minute of added time, moments after Spezia defender Nicolo Bertola was sent off for the foul that set up the attempt.
Sitting in third place following the weekend’s action, Lund and Palermo will return to action on Sunday afternoon when they host Andrija Novakovich and helpless Lecco.
Notes
Andrija Novakovich played from whistle to whistle at center forward for Lecco on Saturday, but could not help the team avoid a 2-0 home loss to Ascoli. While Lecco dominated possession, they had trouble creating many dangerous chances, although the American did attempt one shot and set up another chance during his time on the field. Lecco remain in last place with one point from seven games, and look like a sure-shot certainty for relegation to Serie C.
