Christian Pulisic struck after just six minutes and Omari Hutchinson scored his first goal for AC Milan as the Rossoneri beat Udinese 2-0 at the Bluenergy Stadium on Sunday evening — a win that lifts Milan back into Serie A's top four and answers Thursday's European humiliation.
This was precisely the response Milan needed. Three days after a 3-0 Europa League defeat at Bournemouth, in which Mike Maignan was sent off, an injury-hit side travelled to Udine and produced a controlled, professional away performance, as Football Italia reported from the Stadio Friuli. For Udinese, defeat was a sixth in a row and deepened a crisis that shows no sign of easing.
Pulisic makes Milan's perfect start count
Milan's opener was a goal of pure awareness. Luka Modric spotted his moment, taking a free kick quickly and clipping the ball over the top, where Mergim Vojvoda was playing Pulisic onside. The American hooked the ball down superbly and beat Maduka Okoye one-on-one — a finish that continued his remarkable record against Udinese, with five goal contributions in five meetings with them before this match.
Udinese tried to answer. Ardon Jashari gave the ball away cheaply to Hassane Kamara, whose snapshot Maignan palmed round the base of the near post, and the Milan goalkeeper also spilled a ferocious Vojvoda strike from distance before recovering. At the other end Davide Bartesaghi blasted wide, Fikayo Tomori could not make the most of a Pulisic pull-back, and on 40 minutes came the miss of the half: Tomori rolled the ball across the six-yard box, both Pulisic and Bartesaghi went for it, and somehow neither could tap it in.
Hutchinson's moment seals it on his first Serie A start
The second goal Milan's pressure deserved arrived on 65 minutes — and it belonged to a player Milan fans will remember this night for. Hutchinson laid the ball off for Jashari, whose low shot from the edge of the area Okoye could only parry, and the English winger was first to the rebound to smash home, as SempreMilan described in its match report.
It was Hutchinson's first goal in a Milan shirt, on his first start in Serie A, since joining on loan from Nottingham Forest with an option to buy reported at €40m — and it made him the 34th Englishman to score in the Italian top flight. Nicolo Zaniolo's comeback from five weeks out could not change Udinese's night: Keinan Davis blasted across goal and forced a tricky late save from Maignan, Okoye palmed a Goncalo Ramos effort onto the crossbar, and a late injury concern for Ruben Loftus-Cheek was the only real cloud on Milan's evening.
So what? Milan are top four again on a wild Serie A Sunday
The three points move Milan back into fourth place, one point ahead of Como, on a Sunday that reshaped the top of Serie A. Earlier, Inter needed two stoppage-time goals to beat Fiorentina and stay level on 22 points at the summit, while Atalanta and Frosinone shared eight goals in Bergamo. Milan, missing Adrien Rabiot, Diego Moreira and Mario Gila on top of an absentee list that already included Samuel Chukwueze, Matteo Gabbia and Alexis Saelemaekers, could not afford to drop points in that company — and did not.
There is no time to savour it. Bologna visit San Siro on Wednesday, before Saturday's derby — a week that will test whether this injury-hit squad's bounce-back is the start of a run or just a pause in a difficult autumn. For Udinese, six straight defeats leave them looking down, not up, and the questions around their season are now urgent.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This is what good teams do after a European embarrassment — they go somewhere awkward, score early through their best player, and let a new signing announce himself with the goal that kills the game. Pulisic remains Milan's most reliable difference-maker and Modric's quick thinking remains a cheat code, but Hutchinson's first goal may matter most in the long run: Milan need depth to survive this injury list, and tonight a loanee showed he can be more than a squad option. Can Hutchinson now keep his place for Bologna and the derby — or was this a one-night audition?
