Yunus Musah made the most of his short appearance for Milan, playing a key role in their comeback from a two-goal deficit, while Tim Weah’s first league goal for Juve was bittersweet, as an injury will likely keep him off the field for at least one game.
AC Milan 2 – 2 Torino
Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah played a tag-team role in AC Milan’s season opener on Saturday, with the latter having a better go of things, with an assist and key role in their late come-back to earn a point at home against Torino.
Under new head coach Paulo Fonseca, Pulisic has adopted the central #10 role to start the season, and played 73 minutes as the main pivot behind forward Luka Jovic, with Rafael Leaf and Samuel Chukwueze flanking on the wings.
While far from ineffective, it is clear that he is still finding his footing in the new tactical role. The USMNT star did manage a total of three shots, a pair of chances created for his fellow attackers, was successful on one of his two attempted dribbles, one one of two tackles, and had six touches in the Torino penalty area.
Despite their general dominance, Milan were their own worst enemy for all but the final minutes of the game.
Just before the half-hour, Torino winger Raoul Bellanova targeted a looping volley from the right side of the area towards the lower far corner, but Malik Thiaw looked to have barely cleared it before it crossed the line. However, after play had continued for some time, and following a VAR review, it was determined that the German defender momentarily knocked the ball over the line before kicking it away, with the referee awarding the visitors the shock 1-0 lead.
Leao broke free behind the Torino defense just past the 40-minute mark, but Torino keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic got the better of the one-on-one, saving the Portuguese attacker’s shot to preserve their narrow lead.
Former Atalanta star Duvan Zapata was on fire during the game, and nearly triggered Torino’s second goal one minute before the half when he tapped the ball over to Ivan Ilic. Much to the disappointment of the visitors, the Serbian’s 18-yard blast was kept out of goal by a diving save from Mike Maignan.
Four minutes past the hour, a penalty in Milan’s favour was whistled when Saul Coco seemingly toppled Alvaro Morata near the endline; subsequently, a VAR review showed that the defender’s tackle was inch-perfect, with his foot making contact with the ball just before his trailing leg tripped up the attacker, forcing the referee to reverse his call.
The Milan players’ skeptical disappointment turned to horror four minutes later, after a crafty Torino sequence was completed with Zapata taking flight to head in a short cross from Valentino Lazaro for the 2-0 lead.
With 17 minutes left, Musah entered the game for Pulisic, who moments before sent a blast over the crossbar, and Milan spent a few minutes reconfiguring before they mounted their remarkable comeback.
In the final moments of regulation, a 25-yard shot from Musah was initially deflected near the penalty spot and landed at the foot of Tijjani Reijnders. The Dutchman’s subsequent shot took a deflection off a defender on its way towards goal, which brought it directly into the path of Morata, who redirected the ten-yard shot over the line.
Then five minutes into added time, Reijnders did well to keep possession outside the area, before shifting the ball over to Musah on the right side. The American launched a cross goalwards, which fellow substitute Noah Okafor one-timed directly into goal for the last-gasp equalizer.
With the draw, Milan join the crowd of 12 teams with one point after their first game. They return to action on Saturday with a visit to Parma, who are rumored to be on the cusp of signing American youngster Rokas Pukstas.
Juventus 3 – 0 Como
Tim Weah earned a spot in Thiago Motta’s first league starting XI on Monday night, scoring his first Serie A goal in what turned out to be a straightforward win for Juventus.
Weston McKennie, who has apparently found his way back into the self-assured Brazilian-Italian’s “project”, did suit up for the game after a lonesome preseason, but did not take the field.
Newly promoted Belgian debutant Samuel Mbangula opened the scoring at the midway point of the first half, collecting a deflected crossfield pass from Weah in the left flank, cutting inwards and advancing to the top edge of the area, before targeting the lower right corner for the 1-0.
Several seconds into first-half added time, Weah netted his first Serie A goal for Juventus, collecting a cross from Kenan Yildiz just beyond the penalty spot, and sending his one-touch blast off the underside of the crossbar and over the line for the two-goal lead.
Unfortunately for the American and USMNT fans in general, Weah was forced to depart the game after the half with what turned out to be a minor hamstring injury, which will keep him out for a couple weeks.
Dusan Vlahovic had what would have been Juve’s third goal called back for offside, as he was found to be offside before lunging in for the header.
However, Andrea Cambiaso did eventually net the 3-0 for the hosts at the end of regulation, receiving a crossfield ball from Mbangula in the right flank, and launching a distance shot to the far side to wrap up the win.
Juventus are amongst the collection of four teams on three points atop the standings, and will next visit Hellas Verona on Monday.
Notes
No Americans featured in Venezia’s 3-1 season-opening road loss at Lazio on Sunday. Gianluca Busio is still recovering from an injury suffered at the Olympics, while Tanner Tessmann is embroiled in transfer drama and is currently out of the team’s plans. The Winged Lions will attempt to turn things around on Sunday when they visit Fiorentina.
Kristoffer Lund played 82 minutes at left back for Palermo on Friday night, as they opened their season with a disappointing 1-0 road loss at Brescia. Lund had 71 touches during his time on the field, completed 88% of his 50 passes, set up one chance, won both of his attempted dribbles, hit two accurate long balls in four attempts, won both of his tackles, and won six out of ten duels. Palermo next visit Pisa on Saturday.
Andrea Novakovich played the second half for Bari on Saturday evening, taking one shot and setting up a pair of chances in the team’s 3-1 home loss to Juve Stabia. The American will hope to work his way into the starting lineup when the team visits Modena on Friday night.
Jonathan Klinsmann was on the Cesena bench as backup keeper on Sunday evening, as the team beat Carrarese by a 2-1 margin to open their Serie B season.