AC Milan’s run of three games without a win came to an end on Friday as they hammered Udinese 4-0 away from home. Head coach Sergio Conceicao’s decision to switch to a 3-4-3 formation seemingly paid off with four different players making it to the scoresheet for their most decisive win since September against Venezia.
Rafael Leao opened the scoring just before halftime with a beautiful shot from the edge of the box right into the top left corner of Maduka Okoye’s goal to finally break the deadlock. The Rossoneri’s advantage was quickly doubled just minutes later when Christian Pulisic expertly curled in a corner kick for Strahinja Pavlovic to nod home.
U.S. Men’s National Team captain Pulisic’s corner marked his 10th league assist of the season – a Serie A high. Meanwhile, the USMNT learned their CONCACAF Gold Cup fate on Thursday after they were drawn into Group D ahead of this summer’s tournament.
Theo Hernandez added a third in the 74th minute, rifling a shot past Okoye after a long run in from the left wing, before Tijjani Reijnders cooly finished off an excellent team goal with just 10 minutes to go to seal the win for Milan.
“Best match with Conceicao? Yes, we win and don’t concede goals, that’s very nice,” Pulisic told DAZN after the final whistle, as per Tuttomercatoweb. The American, who also leads the league in chances created with 59 and Milan with 15 goals, also said, “There’s a lot of competition on assists between me and Leao (who has 11 goals and assists in total this season). But when we win and do that it’s good and he’s great when he does that, goals and assists.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all positive for Milan, with goalkeeper Mike Maignan and full-back Alex Jimenez brutally colliding in the 52nd minute. The incident led to play immediately being stopped before Maignan was stretchered off.
Following the game, Conceicao told SkySports, via Milan Reports, that Maignan had been transported to hospital for tests. He also took the opportunity to praise the Udinese fans for their reaction to Maignan’s injury, saying, “Two or three things I saw really struck me. I was concerned about two players who were in difficulty, and I heard the crowd applaud: I have to compliment the Udinese fans.
They booed the player at first, but then, when something happened to the man, they applauded him. It’s an incredible gesture, something I’ve never seen in 40 years of football. Compliments to them.”
Pulisic was also asked about the Frenchman, adding, “The most important thing is that Mike is okay. Our thoughts are with him.”
Next up for Milan is a home game against Atalanta on April 20, before they take on rivals Inter Milan on the 23rd in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final. Asked by Sky Sports how important it was that they beat Inter, Pulisic replied, as per Milan Posts, “We take it day by day. We have to do well in the next match against Atalanta. It’s important against Inter: if we do things well, we can win.”
