MILAN:
AC Milan recovered from their opening day loss with a 2-0 win at Lecce in Serie A on Friday, the place Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic scored the targets in a match the place the guests once more struggled to impress.
Milan fell to a 2-1 residence defeat towards promoted Cremonese final weekend to place supervisor Massimiliano Allegri underneath strain on his return to the membership the place he beforehand gained the league title in his first spell.
Allegri’s facet started brightly and seemed to have taken an early lead when Matteo Gabbia headed in from a nook however a VAR test disallowed the purpose for a push on his marker.
Milan, missing attacking choices after the departures of Tammy Abraham, Luka Jovic and Noah Okafor within the shut season, whereas Rafael Leao is injured, deployed midfielder Alexis Saelemaekers as a makeshift ahead alongside Santiago Gimenez.
It took over half an hour for Milan to create one other actual likelihood, this time Lecce keeper Wladimiro Falcone pulled off a one-handed save from Loftus-Cheek’s close-range header.
Milan ought to have taken the lead simply earlier than the break however Gimenez pulled his shot broad when by one-on-one with the keeper.
Lecce, with no shot heading in the right direction within the first half, had the opening likelihood of the second interval however Mohamed Kaba’s scuffed effort by no means troubled Milan keeper Mike Maignan.
Gimenez virtually made up for his earlier miss when he collected a cross from Saelemaekers within the field and transformed, however as soon as once more Milan’s purpose was disallowed, this time for offside.
Milan lastly discovered a purpose which was not chalked off, when Luka Modric floated a free kick into the field and Loftus-Cheek despatched a glancing header looping previous Falcone to present his facet the lead within the 66th minute.
Nikola Stulic pressured Maignan right into a save as Lecce pushed for an equaliser whereas Falcone parried away a shot from Milan alternative Samuele Ricci, and the sport seemed set to peter out with none additional targets, earlier than a Lecce defensive mix-up.
The house defenders didn’t cope with a Maignan lengthy punt ahead, permitting substitute Pulisic to coolly slot the ball into the underside nook.
Regardless of the win, an animated Allegri seemed removed from completely satisfied on the sidelines, and stormed down the tunnel on the last whistle.
Milan completed eighth final season, which price them a spot in Europe and supervisor Sergio Conceicao his job, and two video games into the marketing campaign, Allegri will probably be effectively conscious of simply how troublesome a process he has on his fingers.
