AC Milan’s season looks very different following the recent win over Lecce when compared to the situation when the two sides last met earlier in the season.
As highlighted by La Gazzetta dello Sport, Stefano Pioli has turned things around between the two matches and now has his team in a fine run of form.
Milan’s first match against Lecce this season was at the Stadio Via del Mare on November 11, and it ended 2-2 with Olivier Giroud being shown a late red card. Giroud and Tijjani Reijnders had Milan 2-0 up inside 35 minutes and it seemed like a simple win was on the way.
In the second half, Nicola Sansone scored what was his seventh goal against Milan in his career, and a few minutes later, Lameck Banda made it 2-2. Lecce scored the winner in stoppage time but it was ruled out for a foul in the build-up.
Before that game in Serie A, Milan were struggling for consistency and had failed to win in three league games.
At the weekend, though, Milan were commanding 3-0 winners, seeing out the win from a position of strength to make it seven wins in a row in all competitions with five being in the league.
The situation now looks very different to that night in Salento where frustration was high, hence Giroud’s red card for dissent.
What changed is that red card pretty much sealed the game and that Pioli didn’t make that stupid decision of using Musah as a right back during the second half. Also we have less players injured now.