Pulisic fires early to spur AC Milan onto derby victory over Inter

MILAN — Another early goal for Christian Pulisic, and this time a positive outcome for AC Milan.

Pulisic's 10th-minute strike was canceled out by Federico Dimarco, but Matteo Gabbia netted two minutes from time as the Rossoneri won 2-1 at Inter Milan on Sunday for their first derby victory since 2022.

Milan also prevented Inter from claiming what would have been a record seventh straight derby victory.

"It's certainly one of the best days of my life, but I'm really happy for the team, because we were in a period where we weren't happy with what we had done," said Gabbia, who came through the youth team at Milan.

"So, I see my goal as the cherry on the cake, but the cake is the entire team which really worked fantastically tonight."

The win eased the pressure on Milan coach Paulo Fonseca, after just one victory in his first five matches in charge, including a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday.

"For me it's exactly the same, because I don't look at anything, I don't hear anything. It will be a week with a bit more confidence, but, for me, what's important is to continue to see the players believing in our ideas and working as they have done until now," Fonseca said.

Pulisic had scored an early goal at the San Siro against Liverpool and he did so again on Sunday.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan tried to chest the ball down, but Pulisic nipped in to steal it, used his speed to surge forward and his strength to hold off another three defenders as he did so, before firing into the bottom left corner.

Inter leveled in the 28th minute as Dimarco played a one-two with Lautaro Martinez, who managed to squeeze the ball back to him through a crowd of players, which he drilled into the far bottom corner.

The host had chances to turn the match around completely, with Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan pulling off a fantastic save to parry Marcus Thuram's effort.

Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer also made an important save in the opening minute of the second half to push away Rafael Leao's header.

Milan was awarded a penalty in the 65th minute after Lautaro appeared to clear a corner with the help of his arm, but, after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor, referee Maurizio Mariani revoked his decision — adjudging that the ball had come off the Inter forward's shoulder.

It was end-to-end action, with both goalkeepers regularly called into action, but it was Inter's who blinked first, when, at the death, Tijjani Reijnders whipped a freekick into the area and Gabbia headed into the top right corner — right in front of the end where the Rossoneri fans were sitting.

"We didn't behave as if we were a team, we should have done more, me first of all as I am the coach," Inter's Simone Inzaghi said.

"Milan deservedly won. We had an off game. It wasn't the usual Inter, we didn't play our game, we didn't defend. I tried to change things, but little changed.

"It's a defeat that hurts us, in a derby. We'll analyze it and try to work even harder."

Roma caps chaotic week

Earlier Sunday, new Roma coach Ivan Juric got off to a super start as his team beat Udinese 3-0, ending a turbulent week for the club with its first win of the season.

Artem Dovbyk's first-half goal and Paulo Dybala's penalty at the start of the second period set Roma on its way, before substitute Tommaso Baldanzi capped a dream debut for Juric in the team's first match since the surprise dismissal of manager Daniele De Rossi on Wednesday.

Many Roma fans were unhappy with the decision to fire De Rossi, with a lot of their anger directed at CEO and general manager Lina Souloukou, who resigned earlier Sunday.

The Curva Sud — where Roma's staunchest fans sit — was empty for the first half hour amid a fan protest, with a large banner displayed that read: "You do not respect our values and our icons, from today we go back to the old ways."

There were also many banners around the stadium in support of De Rossi, as well as chants for the former Roma captain.

Agencies via Xinhua