Christian Pulisic’s first season in Milan was capped by an assist that took him to a remarkable 20 goal contributions in league play, while Tanner Tessmann’s highlight-reel score for Venezia brought the team to the cusp of a return to Serie A.
Juventus 2 – 0 Monza
Tim Weah earned another start for Juventus while Weston McKennie stayed on the bench amidst reported contract negotiations, as the Bianconeri closed out their Serie A season with a standard win over fellow northerners Monza.
Weah played the full game on the right side of the midfield, although he provided little direct danger on the opposing goal without any shots, chances created or drawn fouls.
While Nicolo Fagioli’s shot off the crossbar in the 16th minute came closer than the length of his overgrown frosted tips of putting Juventus ahead, Federico Chiesa netted the opener ten minutes later, miraculously losing then recovering possession under heavy pressure before blasting from the left side of the six-yard box to the far edge of goal.
Two minutes later, Fagioli delivered an outswinging corner to the near post, that Alex Sandro headed just past the upright for the rapid-fire second Juventus goal.
In the end, the hosts had little problem to maintain their lead for the final hour of the game despite Monza’s half-baked efforts, with Alessio Zerbin’s second booking moments before the end of regulation ending any hopes of the visitors.
The result leaves Juventus in third place with their season finished, with their 23-point deficit behind champions Inter a disappointing return for a team that had no European distractions to pull their attention from the Serie A campaign. They could still be passed in the final standings by surging Atalanta, who will play one final make-up game against Fiorentina on Sunday, however their spot in next season’s Champions League is already assured.
AC Milan 3 – 3 Salernitana
Christin Pulisic completed his inaugural season in Milan on a personal high-point, although his eighth league assist of the season wasn’t enough to keep the Rossoneri from conceding a pair of late goals to long-relegated Salernitana in a draw on Saturday.
Yunus Musah was not called into action in the game, but still finishes his first year in Italy with nearly 2200 minutes played across 40 appearances in all competitions, and optimism of increasing his workload and overall value to the team in the forthcoming season.
For his part, Pulisic racked up 20 goal contributions in Serie A, with 12 goals complementing his eight assists, and a total of 15 goals and ten assists in all competitions for the club.
Rafael Leao got the scorring underway for the hosts after 22 minutes, in what might be his last game in Milan amidst rumors of a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia, taking advantage of an embarrassing goalkeeping error from Vincenzo Fiorillo and tapping the uncontested shot over the line.
Five minutes later, 37 year-old Olivier Giroud also scored his last goal in top European competition before retiring to MLS team LAFC, stretching out his left leg while dropping to the ground to net a spectacular closing shot to his three-year Italian tour.
In the 37th minute, Theo Hernández saw a potential third Milan goal called back after the VAR officials spotted an offside infraction in the build-up, which ultimately slowed the hosts’ march to what was previously looking to be a lopsided victory.
Four minutes past the hour, Simy headed in an inswinging corner from Junior Samba to cut the lead to a single goal, but Pulisic’s inch-perfect cross from the left to Davide Calabria on the edge of the six-yard box allowed the Milan captain to restore the two-goal lead with his first goal of the season.
After 40 year-old backup keeper Antonio Mirante, who was given the start to mark his final appearance with the club after three uneventful seasons, was subbed out to give the crowd the chance to recognize the rarely used player who they probably never knew existed, his replacement, Lapo Nava, had the worst possible first-team debut one could imagine.
Just seconds after entering the field, Nava saw Junior Sambia pull one back for the visitors, as the 20 year-old keeper was inches short on his dive to save the Frenchman’s shot from outside the area.
Then one minute before the end of regulation, Nava did manage to get a hand on Loum Tchaouna’ 13-yard shot, but only pushed it into the path of Simy, who easily put way the uncontested six-yarder to earn the final 3-3 draw.
Milan finish the season as distant runners up to city rivals Inter, and will look to improve next season under whoever takes the reigns for departing head coach Stefano Pioli.
Venezia 2 – 1 Palermo (agg. 3-1)
Tanner Tessmann’s early golazo on Friday night effectively removed any real doubts about Venezia’s advancement to the promotion finale, as he and USMNT compatriot Gianluca Busio helped their team come within 180 minutes of a return to Serie A.
Venezia held a narrow 1-0 lead after the first leg, although their advantage was effectively two goals due to the rules of the playoff automatically giving the higher-ranked team the tiebreaker.
Palermo’s Kristoffer Lund picked up a slight injury in the first leg, and was ultimately left on the bench for the duration of the game after only participating in limited practice sessions during the days prior to the game.
Four minutes after the opening whistle, Tessmann made Palermo’s target three goals when he was given too much space by his marking defender, and teed up a thirty-yard shot from just right of center, which flew into the upper left corner, just past Mirko Pigliacelli’s desperate dive.
Then with two minutes left in the first half, Nicholas Pierini drew the attention of Pigliacelli when he received the ball just to the left of goal, and spotted Antonio Candela’s sneaky run on the opposite side, feeding his teammate for the easy finish.
With the 3-0 aggregate lead effectively putting Palermo out of contention, Venezia did drop the intensity, in the second half, although Busio did force Pigliacelli into a save with a shot through the crowd just past the hour, and fired just high seven minutes later.
Palermo netted a consolation goal with four minutes on the clock, after Chaka Traorè’s shot from the right took a deflection off of Michael Svoboda on its way into the Venezia net, although the visitors were hardly in the mood to celebrate the meaningless gift from their hosts.
However, the result was never in doubt after Tessmann’s goal in the opening minutes, sending the hosts through to the finale of the playoff.
Venezia now only need to overcome Cremonese over two legs to return to the Italian top-flight. They will make the short drive west to their Lombardian neighbors, fourth-place finishers in the Serie B regular season, for Thursday’s first leg, before facing off in Venice on Sunday in the finale.
