AC Milan’s star attacking trio once again demonstrated how important they are to Stefano Pioli, with each player scoring in yesterday’s win over Lecce.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) likens the game to a boxing match. First round: Pulisic’s left hook lands. Second round: a jab to the head by Giroud, Lecce on the ropes. Third round: a direct shot by Leao for the knockout.
The trident known as ‘Pu-Gi-Le’ was methodical yesterday: everyone scored, in order from right to left. Pioli has Pulisic and Leao in great shape, and Giroud is back scoring after almost a month in view of the game against Roma. As a bonus, there’s a fourth man – Chukwueze – who is also finally lending a hand.
At the beginning of the season the idea of seeing Milan with Pulisic as an attacking midfielder was born, then Chukwueze and Leao on the sides and Giroud leading the line. Pioli has never tried it and ultimately, it is understandable: Chukwueze was idle for months and Loftus-Cheek as a midfielder was very effective.
Pulisic doesn’t have one-tenth of the physical impact of Loftus-Cheek, on the other hand he attacks the goal (nearly scoring with a header to make it 2-0), he also looks for the ball wide and is much more dangerous with improvisations with ball on the ground.
Pulisic has 10 goals in Serie A, the first time in his career he has had double figures in the league. Leao put together eight goals and six assists in 2024. No one in Italy has done better. Giroud has reached 13 goals in Serie A, equaling his best at Milan, and is three away from 50 for the Rossoneri.
The trio is the best in Italy. Inter and Juve play with two strikers, Dybala-Lukaku-El Shaarawy warmed up later in the season, while Koopmeiners, De Ketelaere and Lookman have been strong at times but don’t have the same numbers.
Pu-Gi-Le, on the other hand, scored 40 goals and, also considering the assists for other teammates, were involved in 44 goals.
Add chuk and it becomes “CuPu GiLa” wkwkwk. My fellow Indonesian will understand.