Pulisic earns Milan win over Sassuolo

Christian Pulisic ensured AC Milan ended the year on a high by scoring a second-half goal that secured a 1-0 home win over Sassuolo in Serie A on Saturday.
In the 59th minute, the American broke the deadlock by skilfully chipping the ball over Sassuolo keeper Andrea Consigli after receiving Ismael Bennacer’s defence-splitting pass. Milan are in third place with 36 points, narrowing the gap to leaders Inter Milan to nine after they played out a 1-1 draw at Genoa on Friday. Sassuolo are 16th with 16.
Milan manager Stefano Pioli fielded a depleted back line, with Fikayo Tomori, Malick Thiaw and Pierre Kalulu all sidelined due to injuries. The hosts had an early effort disallowed when Olivier Giroud was offside as he delivering a cross for Bennacer to slot home.
Another Milan attempt on goal was disallowed as Rafael Leao’s finish was cancelled out for offside in the build-up. Sassuolo had their best chance moments later when Domenico Berardi’s curling shot required a diving save from keeper Mike Maignan who tipped it over the bar. The hosts sat back after Pulisic’s goal, limiting Sassuolo to long-range attempts, and they comfortably held out for the win.
Earlier on Saturday, Bologna’s recent momentum was ended as they suffered a 3-0 loss at Udinese. Thiago Motta’s side, vying for a top-four spot, were left in fifth place, trailing Fiorentina in fourth by two points.
On Friday night, leaders Inter were held to a 1-1 draw away to Genoa as Marko Arnautovic’s first league goal for the club was cancelled out by a header from Radu Dragusin. Inter are top with 45 points but the result gives second-placed Juventus, on 40, an opportunity to close the gap as they were hosting AS Roma late last night. Genoa are 13th with 20.
Inter broke the deadlock after 42 minutes when Austrian Arnautovic found himself in the right place to tap home a rebound off the post following Nicolo Barella’s volley. He opened his account for the club in Serie A after being sidelined for several matches due to a hamstring injury following his loan move from Bologna in the close season.
However, Genoa equalised in first-half stoppage time when Dragusin’s powerful header from a corner eluded Yann Sommer despite the goalkeeper getting both hands on the ball. “We knew the type of game that we were going into. Genoa are in great shape, both physically and mentally, it was a hard-fought match,” Inter manager Simone Inzaghi said.
“The second half probably would have been different without conceding at that moment (in first-half added time). We wanted to win, we are not happy with the point, but we must continue and remember that every match holds dangers.”
The game was interrupted for about eight minutes just after the start with the release of several flares resulting in dense smoke that reduced visibility following heavy rainfall.
As the smoke cleared Genoa showed little respect for injury-hit Inter, who were missing key players like Lautaro Martinez and Federico Dimarco, and came close to scoring several times.
Having already managed to hold Juventus to a 1-1 draw earlier in the month at Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa were again driven forward by an enthusiastic home crowd.
Inter started to gain momentum around the hour mark and Francesco Acerbi almost put them back in front with a header only for Josep Martinez to make a fine save.
The match then fizzled out with few clear-cut chances and both sides appeared content to end the year with a draw.
In Friday’s other late game, Lazio recovered from a goal down to beat visiting Frosinone 3-1 courtesy of Valentin Castellanos, Gustav Isaksen and Patric in a 14-minute spell late in the match. Maurizio Sarri’s side are eighth on 27 points.