AC Milan clinched three very important points against Lecce last night and thus extended their winning run in the league to three games. Given that three goals were scored, and a clean sheet was kept, there are many positive stats to take from the game.
Following the derby win against Inter, the pressure was on the Rossoneri to build some momentum and continue their positive form. Thanks to three goals in five minutes, they managed to do so and jumped to the top of the standings as a result (albeit temporarily).
Paulo Fonseca was very happy with his players after the game and their confidence now appears to be much better than a few weeks ago. Enough about that, though, let’s take a look at the key stats and facts from the game…
Commanding with some doubts
Before Milan exploded at the end of the first half and scored all of their goals, the game wasn’t exactly controlled by the Rossoneri as Lecce played well for most of the first 45 minutes. There were never any doubts regarding the three points after the goal, but some questions can still be asked.
The away side managed to get seven shots on target, many of them from inside the box or at least close to it, and this is something Milan will have to avoid moving forward. On the other hand, none of Lecce’s advances were considered ‘big chances’.
Theo equals Maldini’s record
Thanks to a fantastic strike to double the lead, following a perfectly weighted pass by Rafael Leao, Theo Hernandez equalled Paolo Maldini’s record in Serie A. In fact, he’s now the only defender along with the club legend to have scored 29 goals in the league.
Maldini joked about the fact that ‘it took me 25 years’ when Hernandez published a message on social media, referring to his ‘idol’. Indeed, the Frenchman will certainly break this record and that is very impressive, even if football is a lot more attacking-minded than it used to be.
There is no stopping Pulisic
Although he wasn’t heavily involved in yesterday’s game overall, Christian Pulisic was in the right place at the right time as he scored the third goal of the clash. His ridiculous form thus continued and on top of that, no other Serie A player has been involved in more goals (4 goals, 2 assists) this season.
It must be extremely frustrating for Samuel Chukwueze who had a good pre-season, but there is just no way for Fonseca to bench the American right now. Unless it’s for rotation purposes, and that doesn’t happen too often.
An attack on fire
Milan have the best attack in Serie A. Though the Rossoneri scored many goals last season, the way they created chances wasn’t always brilliant and while we saw this at the start of the season, the last few games have been very impressive on this front.
With 14 goals in the first six games, they have scored the most goals in the league (four more than Inter, five more than Napoli and eight more than Juventus). The rivals will play today and tomorrow so the gap should narrow, but the numbers still speak for themselves.