Christian Pulisic’s early assist for AC Milan was not enough to help the Rossoneri hold on in Napoli, with Weston McKennie and Tim Weah happy to help Juventus capitalize to climb into second after beating Hellas.
Juventus 1 – 0 Hella Verona
Both Weston McKennie and Tim Weah held their spots in the Juventus starting lineup over the weekend, as the team kept pace with Serie A leader Inter thanks to a 97th-minute winner against visiting Hellas Verona.
McKennie was his usual solid self on the right side of Massimiliano Allegri’s five-man midfield, completing all but three of his 32 passing attempts, setting up three shots for teammates, while winning his only tackle and two out of seven duels.
Weah was pulled at halftime, later revealed by Allegri to be due to a combination of a cautionary measure after experiencing minor muscle discomfort and a slight tactical adjustment. During his half, he did take a pair of shots and set up one further chance, while completing 21 out of his 22 passing attempts.
While Juve thoroughly dominated the game, with a total of 30 shots compared to their visitors’ seven, and two goals called back by VAR, it took a 97th minute winner by substitute Andrea Cambiaso to eventually take the victory.
With just moments left to play, Federico Gatti launched a long cross from the right flank towards Arkadiusz Milik at the far post. While the Polish attackers towering header back to the far corner did bounce off the upright, the ball was left uncleared, and eventually Cambiaso slammed it over the line for the winner.
With the three points, the Old Lady climb to second place, now only two points behind leaders Inter. They will return to action on Sunday, when they pay a surprisingly strong Fiorentina team a visit.
Napoli 2 – 2 AC Milan
Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah both earned the start for AC Milan on Sunday, although Pulisic had to watch from the bench during the second half as the team squandered a commanding led in their eventual draw at reigning league champions Napoli.
Before departing at the half due to a minor knock, Pulisic assisted on Milan’s opening goal, took three shots, set up one further chance, while firing in two accurate crosses in a pair of attempts.
Musah did go the distance on the right side directly behind Pulisic, taking a pair of shots, one of which forced a save, picking up his third yellow card of the season, setting up one chance, and hitting three nice long balls out of the back.
Three minutes after losing center back Piere Kalulu to injury in the 19th minute, Milan got off the mark after Pulisic’s cross from just beyond the upper right corner of the 18-yard box was headed in from six yards by Olivier Giroud.
The Frenchman added to his tally in the 31st minute, this time with Davide Calabria’s cross from near the corner flag on the right side again finding Giroud’s head at six yards for the 2-0 lead.
Musah nearly made it three in the final seconds of added time, however his snap shot to the lower left corner was saved at the post by Napoli keeper Alex Meret.
Napoli pulled one back five minutes into the second half, Matteo Politano doing all the hard work to the right of goal to evade a pair of Milan defenders, before picking out a line at the near post to beat Mike Maignan.
Then Giacomo Raspadori earned the draw for the hosts in the 63rd minute, blasting a free kick from 25 yards out to the right side of Maignan’s goal to equalize.
The result sees the Rossoneri drop to third place behind Juventus, although they will be hopeful of regaining some ground on Saturday when they welcome 17th-place Udinese.
Venezia 2 – 1 Pisa
Tanner Tessmann put in a man-of-the-match performance for Venezia against visiting Pisa on Sunday, while Gianuca Busio also earned the start in the team’s confidence-building victory.
The two Americans lined up along side each other in the middle of Paolo Vanoli’s four-man midfield, and both were impressive in a generally positive performance by the hosts. Tessmann assisted on the eventual winning goal, set up one more chance and took a shot himself, while completed 90% of his 41 passes, created three chances and took one shot during his 72 minutes of play.
Pisa opened the scoring after just six minutes, with Mattia Valoti striking from the spot after Venezia keeper Bruno Bertinato upended Tommaso Barbieri in the area.
Still, Venezia kept their cool and equalized just past the half-hour, with Nicholas Pierini striking a wonderful left-footed volley from just outside the area to the upper right corner.
Then with the game winding down to its final quarter-hour, Tessmann’s forward pass into the area split a pair of defenders and found the foot of Dennis Tørset Johnsen, who low shot to the lower left corner flew by Pisa keeper Nicolas for the winner.
The victory brings Venezia to second place in Serie B, albeit tied on points with Catanzaro and only one ahead of Palermo. They return to action on Saturday with a visit to second-bottom Ternana.
Notes
Andrija Novakovich and Lecco finally earned their first win of the season on Sunday, however it came at the cost Kristoffer Lund and promotion-hunting Palermo. While Lecco were ultimately overmatched by their hosts, they scored on their only two chances, and held on for their dear lives to eke out the win. Novakovich did not register any shots or created chances over his 79 minutes, while Lund had a more productive 74-minute run at left back, setting up four shots and completing 30 out of 33 passes.
