Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic both started for their respective teams as wins by Juventus and AC Milan kept the Serie A title race interesting, in a weekend marred by racist chanting by the fans of the Rossoneri’s hosts Udinese.
Udinese 2 – 3 AC Milan
Christian Pulisic put in another solid performance for AC Milan on Saturday, however their confidence-building, come-from-behind win at Udinese was ruined by racist chanting from the home crowd.
A night that should have been remembered for a hard-fought, fourth straight league win that kept the Rossoneri just within shooting distance of league’s top two spots, will instead be noted for the indefensible incident, that could lead to heavy sanctions against Udinese and its fans.
Pulisic started the game on the right side of the front-three and put in a solid 75 minutes, although was not a part of Milan’s late push in the final ten minutes to come back from a deficit. He registered one shot and set up one chance during his time on the field, completed half of his four attempted dribbles, won all three of his tackles and eight of 12 duels, made nine recoveries and drew a pair of fouls.
Yunus Musah did briefly see the field as a 95th-minute substitute as head coach Stefano Pioli looked to lock down the field after the team’s late go-ahead goal.
Just before the 31-minute mark, Ruben Loftus-Cheek gave Milan the lead when he ran onto a short cut-back cross from Theo Hernández, tapping his ten-yard shot from near the penalty spot to the opposite corner.
Moments later, the game was brought to a standstill when a number of fans behind Milan’s goal were clearly making racist chants towards keeper Mike Maignan. The keeper righty refused to continue, and was joined by his Milan teammates on the sidelilne in solidarity.
While the referee was able to convince the visitors to continue playing following a five-minute delay, the incident will undoubtedly need to be dealt with by the Italian authorities, likely leading to at least a stadium bans for the Udinese supporters, or a potential points-deduction should it be taken with any amount of seriousness.
Following the disruption, Udinese equalized with three minutes left in the half, Lazar Samardzic taking a pass from Lorenzo Lucca well outside of the area, storming forward amidst several defenders and launching his 20-yarder to the left of Maignan’s goal.
Florian Thauvin then put the hosts ahead two minutes past the hour, finishing a period of heavy Udinese pressure with a pinball-like run through several Milan defenders in the right side of the area and shot above Maignan’s grasp for the 2-1 advantage.
Pulisic left the game after 75 minutes in favor of Luka Jovic, and the move did pay off eight minutes later, with the Serbian attacker putting away the equalizer after a cross from Hernández near the endline to the left of goal was poorly cleared by an Udinese defender.
Then fellow second-half substitute Noah Okafor netted the winner three minutes into added time. Olivier Giroud got his head onto an outswinging corner near the penalty spot, and headed it down toward the left side. Okafor was waiting, and made an easy job of his three-yard shot, netting his fourth goal of the season.
Milan remain in third place following the victory, still six points behind Inter, who now have a game in hand after dealing with Italian Supercup duties in Saudi Arabia in recent days. They are back on the field on Saturday when they host seventh-place Bologna.
Lecce 0 – 3 Juventus
Weston McKennie was once again impressive as Juve’s second-half push carried them to a big win over Lecce on Sunday night, a result that temporarily puts the Bianconeri atop the Serie A standings.
The American looked refreshed after being forced to sit out the team’s last league game on Tuesday due to a yellow card suspension, although did promptly pick up another warning in this game, moving him one closer to what could be a longer suspension later in the season.
He did force Lecce keeper Wladimiro Falcone into three saves with his trio of shots, assisted on his team’s second goal, won two of his three tackles, made three clearances, while winning three of his nine duels.
Tim Weah had a long substitute appearance after entering the game just before the hour mark in time for his team’s late burst, although had minimal direct influence on the attack with just 14 touches, no shots or created chances, and generally played more of a defensive role to keep their hosts from building any momentum of their own.
After a scoreless and largely even first half, the visitors finally got out of first gear two minutes after Weah came on for Fabio Miretti in the 57th minute.
Falcone initially pushed aside Kenan Yildiz’s 20-yard shot at the end of a counter, however Andrea Cambiaso recovered the ball to the left of goal and popped a high, lobbed cross towards the penalty spot. Dusan Vlahovic’s turning volley attempt was perhaps slightly mis-hit downwards into the turf instead of straight ahead with full power, however it took a bounce over the defenders and into the upper left corner of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Then in the 68th minute, McKennie lept high to meet a long cross from Filip Kostic at the back post, sending his header in a clear path towards the far lower corner. Vlahovic wasn’t as convinced by the ball’s trajectory and slid in to knock it over the line, perhaps unnecessarily, earning credit for the goal in the scoresheet.
The visitors then put the final nail in with five minutes left, with defender Bremer rising above the crowd in the Lecce box to head in Samuel Iling-Junior’s deep free kick.
The win takes Juve to the top of the Serie A standings, one point ahead of Inter, who are in Saudia Arabia competing in the Italian Supercup. They next host 19th-place Empoli on Saturday.
Cosenza 4 – 2 Venezia
Gianluca Busio netted his fourth goal of the season on Saturday evening, however it was in a losing effort as Venezia could not come back from an early three-goal barrage by their hosts Cosenza.
As usual, both Busio and fellow USMNT player Tanner Tessmann started in the central midfield for head coach Paolo Vanoli, although the former had the better game of the two, continuing his recent strong form.
He scored on his only shot of the game, also set up a pair of chances, completed 92% of his 48 passing attempts, won eight out of 14 duels, completed two of his three attempted dribbles, and accurately connected on two of his three long balls.
The hosts wasted no time in effectively putting the game out of reach, jumping to a 3-0 lead in just over 20 minutes.
Gennaro Tutino netted their first with a looping, 20-yard shot to the lower left corner in the tenth minute, then Manuel Marras added a second in the 19th, with his sweeping volley from just beyond the edge of the six-yard box taking Venezia keeper Jesse Joronen by surprise.
Tutino’s second goal just beyond the 20-minute mark, which was potentially a lucky deflection from a misplaced shot by Federico Zuccon, seemed to put the game out of reach, although Busio’s goal three minutes later gave the visitors some fleeting hope.
The American’s score came after a fast series of short, one-touch lay-offs by his teammates to leave the Cosenza defense off-kilter, with his final, uncontested shot from 17 yards, straight out from goal flying past the diving opposing keeper.
However, Tutino eventually put the game on ice with nine minutes remaining, completing his hat-trick with a looping, right footed shot from the left side of the area, that barely cleared the far upright on its way into netting.
Christian Gytkjær did pull one back for the visitors with three minutes left to make the final 4-2 scoreline semi-respectable, however there was little more the team could do other than watch the clock run down.
Venezia drop to fourth following the weekend’s round of games, but are still only one point out of second place, and an automatic promotion spot. They next host relegation-threatened Ternana on Saturday.
Notes
Andrija Novakovich went the distance at center forward for Lecco, who fell at home by a 3-1 scoreline to Pisa on Saturday. The American did take a pair of shots, although was largely neutralized with only 21 total touches in the game. Lecco fall deeper into the relegation zone, but will be hopeful of improving their 17th-place position when they visit FeralpiSalo on Saturday.
Kristoffer Lund played 75 minutes at left-back for Palermo, who beat visiting Modena by a 4-2 score on Saturday. Lund was generally solid, as the victory brought the team to sixth place, well within the promotion playoff spots. They next visit Catanzaro on Friday night.
