A pair of missed penalties by Christian Pulisic’s AC Milan teammates doomed the team to a narrow loss to Fiorentina despite his fifth score of the season, while Weston McKennie and Juventus also had a disappointing weekend marked by wasted chances.
Fiorentina 2 – 1 AC Milan
AC Milan’s designated penalty taker Christian Pulisic had to watch two of his teammates fail to convert shots they never should have taken on Sunday, as the Rossoneri fell by a 2-1 margin on the road to Fiorentina.
Yunus Musah was not one of the only two substitutes called into action by head coach Paolo Fonseca.
The game was marked by a grand total of three missed penalties, the first coming in the 22nd minute by Juve castaway Moise Kean, whose attempt to the left side was easily saved by Mike Maignan, after Theo Hernandez fouled Dodo just inside the area.
Yacine Adli then put the Viola ahead in the 35th minute, cutting inside from the left side and unleashing a shot shot to the lower far corner.
Moments before the halftime break, Pulisic freed Tijjanii Reijnders into the area with an off-balance pass, however the Dutchman was knocked over by Luca Ranieri, giving Milan a chance to equalize from the spot. Despite Pulisic being the designated spot kick specialist for the team, Hernandez opted to take the kick himself, and saw his attempt to the lower right corner impressively stopped by David de Gea.
Then ten minutes after the restart, Milan had another chance to equalize after Kean’s attempted clearance from inside the area caught Matteo Gabbai’s leg, with the referee awarding another clear penalty to the visitors. However, this time Tammy Abraham was the Milan player to usurp Pulisic’s spot, and saw his attempt to the left saved by de Gea.
Milan were temporarily given a lifeline when Pulisic did succeed in pulling them even at the hour mark, spectacularly putting away midair volley, sending the ball to the left corner, opposite of his own momentum towards the right.
However, the hosts once again took the advantage in the 73rd minute, with Kean controlling a long ball out of the back and shifting it to Albert Gudmundsson, whose powerful strike to the lower right corner left Maignon no chance of making the save.
The end was marked by Theo Hernandez putting the cap on one of his worst nights in the black and red, seeing straight red after the final whistle for insulting the referee.
Milan are now in sixth place with the result, and next host Udinese following the break.
Notes
Weston McKennie was initially rested by head coach Thiago Motta for Juve’s home matchup against Cagliari on Sunday, but entered the game just past the hour mark with the team ahead by a 1-0 margi thanks to an early penalty by Dusan Vlahovic. However, Cagliari equalized from the spot thanks to Razvan Marin to earn the 1-1 draw. The Bianconeri drop to third with the result. Tim Weah did not suit up for the game.
Gianluca Busio had a decent outing for Venezia FC on Friday night, who blew an early lead against their hosts Hellas Verona to lose another game in their flailing Serie A campaign by a 2-1 margin. Busio had four shots and created one chance, while completing 31 out of f 37 passes over the 90 minutes.
Jonathan Klinsmann stayed on Cesena’s bench on Saturday afternoon as backup keeper, watching his team lose a 3-1 road contest to the promotion favorites.
Andrija Novaovich played the final 23 minutes for Bari in their 1-1 draw at Cremonese on Sunday. The result puts them in 12th place heading into the international break.
Kristoffer Hansen went the distance at left back for Palermo, who lost 1-0 at home to Salernitana on Sunday.