Massimiliano Allegri earned his first win since returning as AC Milan manager, as his team battled to a 2-0 away victory against Lecce. It was Lecce’s first defeat of the Serie A season, and they are still yet to score a goal.
Allegri mostly stuck with the same starting XI that lost 2-1 to Cremonese in the opening match, making just one forced change. Milan thought they had the lead early on when Matteo Gabbia headed in a Luka Modrić corner, but VAR ruled it out for a foul.
The first 25 minutes passed without a single shot on target, a contrast to the previous five meetings between the sides, which had seen 25 goals.
Milan’s first real chance came in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Santiago Giménez crossed the ball, Yunus Musah sent it back across the box, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s header was saved well by Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone. Giménez later missed a good chance, and Lecce’s Mohamed Kaba shot high over the bar, meaning the home side went into the break still without a shot on target this season.
Lecce brought on new signing Nikola Štulić at half-time, and he quickly made an impact by setting up Kaba, whose deflected shot was saved by Mike Maignan. However, Milan began to take control of the game.
On the hour mark, Alexis Saelemaekers set up Giménez to score, but VAR again denied Milan, this time for offside.
Six minutes later, Milan finally broke the deadlock. Luka Modrić delivered a free-kick into the box, and Loftus-Cheek headed the ball on and past Falcone to make it 1-0. Shortly after, Falcone pulled off a great save to stop Youssouf Fofana from doubling Milan’s lead, and Štulić tested Maignan at the other end.
With just four minutes left, Christian Pulisic took advantage of a Lecce mistake in defence to score Milan’s second goal and seal the win. The result means Milan are now unbeaten in their last 15 matches against Lecce, while Eusebio Di Francesco’s side have just one win in their last 12 Serie A home games.
