We are still only two games into the new season, but the early signs that have come from AC Milan are very positive, especially in last night’s win over Torino.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) talks about the Pulisic-Giroud-Leao attacking trident, or ‘PU-GI-LE’ as they christen it, who know how to exhaust their opponents and threaten in a variety of ways.
Two league games are still too few to make emphatic judgements, but certainly the speed with which Pioli assembled the group and explained his beliefs to the many new signings is surprising.
It seems as though Pulisic has learned the attacking mechanisms very quickly, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders continued their positive signs.
Milan are looking good and Friday’s match against Roma, defeated in Verona and hungry for points, will be able to tell us if they are already at the level of Napoli, Inter and Juventus.
On paper last night could have been a tough test for Stefano Pioli’s side, given that Ivan Juric’s team made life difficult for all the top teams last year, but not this time.
Referee Mariani helped Milan with a ‘very generous first penalty’ and a second that was ‘perhaps spoiled by a previous foul’, but that does not give much excuse for Torino who were outplayed pretty much across the field.
Pioli’s international group started well with some runs from Leao that immediately made it clear that he is in one of those crescendo evenings that make him unstoppable.
The first goal for Milan saw Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Pulisic combine, with the former setting up the latter for a tap-in. The Granata equalised a few minutes later from a free-kick as Perr Schuurs fired in on the turn to get his first Serie A goal.
In the 41st minute there came the first controversy as Olivier Giroud’s header grazed Buongiorno’s hand and the VAR called Mariani over who gave the penalty. There were no complaints about the third goal, as Leao teed up Theo beautifully.
Leao was brought down by Schuurs as he was crossing the ball which resulted in a second penalty being awarded – again after VAR consultation – allowing Giroud to get himself a brace.
Leao came off after the foul suffered amid the ovation of the fans and shortly after Pioli threw Chukwueze, Okafor and Musah on to make their debut at San Siro. The rest was plane sailing.
