AC Milan struck twice inside the opening 19 minutes and then clung on for a morale-boosting 2-1 win at Genoa on Sunday, Alphadjo Cisse and Christian Pulisic doing the early damage before Mikael Ellertsson set up a frantic finish at Marassi.
Milan arrived at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris deeply unpredictable, having lurched from a defeat to Bologna to a derby win and then a Europa League loss to Ferencvaros on Thursday. Genoa, by contrast, had won three straight, including against Juventus. It was the visitors who struck first and fastest, as detailed by Football Italia.
Six minutes that decided it
Genoa nearly scored inside the first minute, Milutin Osmajic shaving the far post, but Milan's press soon took over. In the 13th minute Pulisic won possession back high up the pitch and Adrien Rabiot rolled the ball across for Cisse to sweep in first time from 14 yards. It was the teenager's eighth goal of the season in all competitions, a perfect way to mark his first senior Italy call-up.
Six minutes later Genoa shot themselves in the foot. A weak back-pass was intercepted by Goncalo Ramos, who generously set up Pulisic rather than shooting himself, the American sending Leo Ostigard to the ground before finishing calmly. It was Pulisic's fourth Serie A goal of the season and his third in his last three league starts, after strikes against Udinese and in the derby win over Inter, as SempreMilan reported. Osmajic thought he had pulled one back on the half-hour, only for a narrow offside call to rule out his header.
Milan hang on as Genoa throw everything forward
Ruben Amorim, who made five changes from Thursday and was missing seven injured players including Fikayo Tomori, Samuel Chukwueze and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, watched his side lose control of a game they should have buried. The tension boiled over when Alessandro Marcandalli dragged back Rabiot and escaped with a yellow card; Milan wanted a red, and three members of their coaching staff were sent off for their protests.
Genoa finished with 17 shots to Milan's six. Vitinha stung Mike Maignan's gloves, Stephan El Shaarawy's strike was deflected inches over, and with two minutes left Ellertsson pounced on a loose ball from a charged-down free kick and beat Maignan from distance to make it 2-1. Milan survived the final scramble to reclaim fourth place.
So what does it mean?
Milan go into the international break fourth on 24 points from 11 matches, in a title race that tightened again on Sunday as Napoli held leaders Lazio and Inter beat Como. For a squad this stretched by injuries, banking three points at an in-form side is no small thing, and in Cisse and Pulisic, Amorim has two forwards in genuine scoring form. Genoa's three-game winning run is over, but a performance that out-shot Milan almost three to one will tell Daniele De Rossi his side belong at this level.
Beyond the Final Whistle: this was a win Milan's press earned and their game management nearly threw away. Nineteen brilliant minutes, seventy anxious ones. Pulisic is becoming the player Amorim trusts when a game needs deciding early, but a side that concedes 17 shots to Genoa will not finish in the top four on first quarters alone. The revival is real; so is the fragility.
Milan fans, can Pulisic and Cisse carry this attack through the winter, or does January have to bring Amorim another forward? Let us know in the comments.
