Christian Pulisic’s return to Milan’s lineup saw the Rossoneri do just enough to beat Fiorentina, while Tanner Tessmann was once again the best player on the field as Venezia stayed on their road to promotion.
AC Milan 1 – 0 Fiorentina
While it wasn’t pretty, AC Milan was able to narrowly beat visiting Fiorentina on Saturday night, with USMNT stars Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah both earning the start in the San Siro.
In his return following several games on the sidelines, Pulisic lined up on the left side of Stefano Pioli’s front three. He played just over an hour, contributing one shot and a pair of chances created, while most importantly playing a key role in the ultimate winner.
Musah kept his spot on the right side of the midfield, playing 81 minutes, setting up a pair of chances, completing 13 out of 16 passes and winning four out of nine duels.
The game saw the visitors largely dominate the flow of play and take 21 shots compared to the hosts’ nine, however a comparative lack of clinical precision and overall bite to their game saw them ultimately shut out.
The decider came in first-half added time, with Musah feeding a forward ball from just inside the attacking half to Pulisic, who side-footed it into the path of Theo Hernández with a clear opening on goal.
In his clumsy attempt to recover, defender Fabiano Parisi tripped up Hernández for a unmistakable penalty, with the French international beating the Fiorentina keeper with a shot just left of center.
Fiorentina had a chance to equalize in the final seconds when a corner from the left was deflected towards the far post to the waiting Rolando Mandragora, however Mike Maignan made the snap save on his point-blank shot, preserving the three points for the hosts.
The result leaves Milan in third place following the weekend’s round of games, four behind second-place Juventus. They will be confident of taking another three when the host Frosinone on Saturday, but will first turn their attention towards European competition where they host Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.
Juventus 1 – 1 Inter Milan
Weston McKennie played the full game in the Juventus midfield on Sunday night, as the team neither gained nor lost ground on their league-leading opponents Inter in a largely uninspiring first-versus-second clash in Turin.
With Tim Weah still recovering from injury, McKennie was the only American on the field, putting in a competent 90-minute performance. He had 50 touches, completed 71% of his 31 passes, won two out of three tackles, made five recoveries, won half of his eight duels, while drawing one foul.
Juve was first on the board in the 27th minute; Federico Chiesa worked his way forward on the left side, before hitting a low, square pass to Dusan Vlahovic just inside the 18-yard box. The Serbian star nailed it on his first touch, beating Inter keeper Yann Sommer just inside the right upright.
Lauro Martinez quickly equalized for the visitors, teaming up with Marcus Thuram on 33rd-minute goal that caught the Old Lady off-guard. Thuram advanced the ball on the right flank, rounding defender Gleison Bremer to send a low cross towards just beyond the top of the six-yard box.
Even though he was tightly marked by Federico Gatti, Martinez had the narrowest of openings through which to thread his shot, with the ball barely evading both Gatti’s outstretched foot and Wojciech Szczesny’s desperate lunge to roll into the lower left corner for the 1-1.
In the end, neither team could push through for the winner, with the two combining for a paltry 12 shots over 90 minutes, only five of which were on target.
The result leaves Juventus in second place, two behind leaders Inter as the season crosses its one-third point. With the leaders facing a tough visit to Napoli next weekend, McKennie and his teammates will be hopeful that a win on their visit to Monza on Friday will give them a chance to take over the Serie A top spot.
Bari 0 – 3 Venezia
Gianluca Busio and Tanner Tessmann both started for Venezia on their visit to Bari on Saturday, with the latter putting in a man-of-the-match performance with a goal and assist in the team’s surprisingly nervy three-goal victory.
While Busio had a generally strong 85-minute showing in the midfield, his performance was overshadowed by that of Tessmann, who notched a goal and assist in the final minutes of play to help put away what had been a tense encounter up to that point.
Nicholas Pierini put the Venetians ahead at the half hour, lurking in the area just long enough to be the beneficiary of Francesco Zampano cut-back pass from near the end-line on the left side.
Both keepers were heavily tested in the second half, but did well to keep the game tight headed into the final moments. Bruno Bertinato was particularly influential for Venezia, saving all four shots headed his way to preserve the lead.
The flood gates finally broke in the final minute of regulation, with Venezia netting a pair of goals to seal the deal. Bari keeper Brenno was forced off his line to clear the ball from Christian Gytkjær. The ball landed directly in front of Tessmann at close to 30 yards out, who took a touch to tee up his shot before launching it to the left side for the 2-0 lead.
Then in the seventh minute of added time, Tessmann freed Ali Dembélé into the right side of the area for a low shot to the near post that beat Brenno for the third and final goal.
The win sees Venezia atop the Serie B standings, edging Parma based on their head-to-head record. They next host 16th-place Ascoli on Saturday.
Notes
Andrija Novakovich played 80 minutes at forward for Lecco in their 1-0 road loss at Cremonese on Saturday, taking a pair of shots while creating one chance as the team lost for the first time in more than a month. They are back in action on Tuesday with a visit to Como.
Kristoffer Lund started at left back on Sunday for Palermo, playing 85 minutes in the 1-1 road draw at Ternana. He took a pair of shots, one on target, as the team stayed mired within the promotion playoff spots.
