AC Milan’s Christian Pulisic celebrates after scoring the opening goal during a Serie A soccer game between Inter Milan and AC Milan at San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
MILAN — Christian Pulisic scored another early goal, this time for AC Milan.
Pulisic’s 10th-minute goal was cancelled out by Federico Di Marco, but Matteo Gabbia scored two minutes from time to give the Rossoneri a 2-1 victory over Inter Milan on Sunday and their first derby win since 2022.
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Milan also prevented Inter from achieving a record seventh consecutive win.
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“It’s definitely one of the best days of my life but I’m really happy for the team because there was a time when we weren’t satisfied with what we achieved,” said Gabbia, who came through Milan’s youth team.
“So I guess my goal was kind of the cherry on the cake, but the cake was the whole team who did a really great job tonight.”
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The win eased pressure on Milan manager Paulo Fonseca, who has managed just one win in his first five games in charge, including a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday.
“For me it’s exactly the same, you don’t see anything, you don’t hear anything. It will be a week of a little confidence but for me the important thing is to continue to see the players believe in what we think and work hard as they have been doing,” Fonseca said.
New Roma manager Ivan Juric got off to a flying start as his team beat Udinese 3-0 early on Sunday morning.
Pulisic scored an early goal against Liverpool at San Siro and did so again on Sunday, diving to seize the ball after Henrikh Mkhitaryan tried to chest it down, then used his speed to charge forward and outsmart three defenders before firing into the bottom left corner.
In the 28th minute, Inter equalized when Di Marco played a one-two with Lautaro Martinez, who fought his way through a crowd of players to win the ball back and shoot into the bottom corner.
Read: Inter Milan clinch Serie A title in derby against AC Milan
The home team had chances to completely change the course of the game but Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan produced a superb save to deny Marcus Thuram a shot.
Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer also made a crucial save to deny Rafael Leão’s header just one minute into the second half.
Milan were awarded a penalty in the 65th minute after Lautaro appeared to use his arm to clear a corner kick, but after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor, referee Maurizio Mariani overturned the decision, deciding that the ball had fallen off the Inter forward’s shoulder.
It was a back-and-forth game at San Siro with both goalkeepers struggling frequently, and Milan secured the win with a free kick from Tijani Liynders just before the end of the game, after Gabbia headed it into the top right corner of the goal, right in front of the goal where the Milan fans were seated.
“We didn’t act as a team. I, as the manager, should have done more,” said Inter coach Simone Inzaghi. “Milan deservedly won. We were in bad form. We weren’t the usual Inter. We didn’t play, we didn’t defend… I tried to change the situation but it didn’t make much difference.”
“The defeat in the derby is a blow for us. We will analyze it and work harder.”
Chaotic week in Rome ends on a positive note
An eventful week for Roma ended with the team’s first win of the season.
Roma took the lead through Artem Dovvic’s first-half goal and Paulo Dybala’s penalty early in the second half, before substitute Tommaso Baldanzi gave Juric a dream debut in the team’s first game since Daniele De Rossi’s surprise dismissal on Wednesday.
Many Roma fans were unhappy with the decision to fire De Rossi, with much of their anger directed at CEO and general manager Lina Soukou, who resigned in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The Curva Sud, where Roma’s most passionate fans are seated, was left empty for the first 30 minutes in protest by fans who displayed a large banner reading: “You do not respect our values and symbols. From today we go back to the old ways”.
There were also many banners in support of De Rossi around the stadium, as well as chants in honour of the former Roma captain.
First move wins
Fiorentina and Bologna also recorded their first league wins of the season.
Albert Gudmundsson had a perfect debut as he came on as a half-time substitute and scored two penalties to help Fiorentina come from behind to win, the winner coming from the spot just one minute from time.
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Bologna won 2-1 at Monza.
