AC Milan’s Christian Pulisic celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and AC Milan at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Sept.22, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
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.
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“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.
Earlier Sunday, new Roma coach Ivan Jurić got off to a super start as his team beat Udinese 3-0.
Pulisic had scored an early goal at 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 Martínez, who managed to squeeze the ball back to him through a crowd of players and he drilled into the far bottom corner
READ: Inter Milan wins Serie A title in derby thriller with AC Milan
The hosts 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 Leão’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 at San Siro, with both goalkeepers regularly called into action and it was Milan which won the match at the death when Tijjani Reijnders whipped a free kick into the area and Gabbia headed into the top right corner — right in front of the end where the Rossoneri fans were sat.
“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.”
Chaotic week for Roma comes to a positive end
A turbulent week for Roma ended with the team’s 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 Jurić in the team’s first match since the surprise dismissal of Daniele De Rossi on Wednesday.
Many Roma fans were unhappy with the decision to fire De Rossi and a lot of their anger had been 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.
First wins
Fiorentina and Bologna also got their first league wins of the season.
Albert Gudmundsson had the perfect debut as he converted two penalties – after coming on as a halftime substitute – to help Fiorentina fight back to beat Lazio 2-1, with the winning spot kick coming in the final minute.
Bologna won 2-1 at Monza.