United States standout Christian Pulisic scored the opening goal as AC Milan beat Lazio 2-0 at home Saturday to stay level on points with Inter Milan at the top of Serie A.
Milan went top of the table with 18 points after seven matches, before city rivals Inter went back above them on goal difference following their 4-0 win at Salernitana later in the day. Lazio are 14th with seven points.
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Pulisic’s goal was his third for Milan since arriving from Chelsea in the summer, but it was his first in more than a month.
Milan’s pressure had been building and the hosts finally made the breakthrough on the hour mark. Tijjani Reijnders slipped the ball through to Rafael Leão and he crossed for Pulisic to fire in on the half-volley with the inside of his left boot.
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Pulisic was given another standing ovation by the San Siro crowd when he was substituted late on.
Fellow American Yunus Musah almost doubled Milan’s lead in the 73rd, but he was denied by a superb save by Ivan Provedel.
The Lazio goalkeeper had pulled off an equally impressive stop at the end of the first half to prevent Olivier Giroud from marking his 37th birthday with a goal. Reijnders back-heeled the rebound onto the post.
Noah Okafor sealed the match two minutes from time with a simple tap-in after some great work by Leão.
“After the break, we were more compact and certainly more energetic, hungrier and more determined,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli told DAZN.
“That is a great sign when playing every three days and it was a fully deserved victory.”
Lazio thought they had grabbed a consolation goal in the dying moments, as Pedro unleashed a beautiful curler into the top corner, only for it to be disallowed for an earlier offside.
Milan suffered a potential injury blow as midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek limped off in the first half.
“It would be a shame if we lost Ruben, he felt a twinge near the groin area,” Pioli said, adding that he hoped it was nothing serious.
“Unfortunately, injuries tend to come when players are in good shape.”
Milan visit Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League group stage Wednesday before travelling to Genoa for a league match Oct. 7.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.