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ROME (AP) — Christian Pulisic is one goal away from tying the most productive season of his career.
Weston McKennie is one of the best in the Serie A table.
The two U. S. internationals performed well in the Italian league on Sunday, news for the Americans who will participate in the CONCACAF Nations League final in two weeks’ time at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.
Pulisic scored in the first half of AC Milan’s 1-0 win over relegation-threatened Empoli for his 10th goal in 37 appearances in all competitions in his first run with the Rossoneri.
McKennie returned earlier than expected due to a dislocated left shoulder and provided assists for Juventus in a 2-2 draw against Atalanta. He also provided two assists before being injured in the win over Frosinone last month and scored seven league goals overall. This season, only Olivier Giroud’s 8 assists for Milan.
Pulisic’s season came on his first crusade at Chelsea, when he scored 11 goals in 34 appearances in all competitions in 2019-20. He has two months left to surpass that total with Milan.
“I think it’s one of the most productive bureaucracies of my career,” Pulisic said. “I’ve gained a lot of acceptance here from the staff, my teammates, the city and the fans. So I feel really smart. “
In the 40th minute at San Siro, Pulisic set up through Ismael Bennacer and Noah Okafor for a shot from the edge of the domain that went in after a great deflection from a defender.
The play was initially declared offside, but the goal was later awarded following a VAR check on Okafor’s position.
“I got a little lucky,” Pulisic said.
Pulisic has scored 14 goals in Serie A this season, with 8 goals and six assists, to effectively revive his career after suffering injuries and falling from grace at Chelsea.
The Milan player who has scored more than Pulisic is Giroud, who has 14 goals in all competitions.
With their third straight win between Serie A and the Europa League, Milan moved into second place behind Juventus, one point ahead of the Bianconeri.
Pulisic earned an avalanche of death threats and abuse on social media after Milan’s 1-0 win over Lazio in their match.
Lazio finished the game with 8 men and Pulisic worried about two of the 3 sending-offs. Matteo Guendouzi was sent off in stoppage time for reacting badly to a foul by Pulisic. The Lazio player thought the whistle had been blown, but replays proved that this is not the case.
“For me it wasn’t about being a bad sport,” Pulisic said of the match against Lazio. “I didn’t see anything. I play until I hear the whistle, I fall and the whole scenario gets out of control. . . I didn’t need to say anything contrary to Lazio.
MCKENNIE’S HELP
McKennie first made a pass to Andrea Cambiaso, who equalized to make it 1-1. Four minutes later, he cleared a cross and left the ball to Arkadiusz Milik for a shot that bounced off and gave Juventus a 2-1 lead.
Teun Koopmeiners scored two goals for Atalanta, first giving the lead with a free kick and then equalizing with a fine shot.
Juventus have won one of their last seven games.
Atalanta sixth.
ROSSI’S ROME
Fifth-placed Roma earned a valuable point when Diego Llorente scored in time to draw 2-2 at Fiorentina.
Roma have lost just once in 11 games since Daniele De Rossi hired Jose Mourinho to update in January.
After Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar saved a penalty from Fiorentina captain Cristiano Biraghi, Llorente equalized with a hard-hitting shot into the corner.
Luca Ranieri had given Fiorentina the lead with a header. Paulo Dybala and Angeliño set up Houssem Aouar as Roma made it 1-1. Rolando Mandragora then made an acrobatic effort to repair Fiorentina’s lead.
Headbutt
Lecce coach Roberto D’Avera gave the impression of headbutting Hellas Verona striker Thomas Henry after a heated clash between two groups just above the relegation zone.
Henry got into an argument with Lecce defender Marin Pongracic after the final whistle when D’Aversa intervened and ended up bringing Henry down with an apparent header directly in front of one of the in-form referees.
“Next Saturday we have a big game (against Salernitana) and I didn’t need my players to be sanctioned,” D’Avera said. “So I went out to check them and separate them from the opponents, and then the incident with Henry happened. .
“As a coach and father of three, I need to know what happened,” D’Aversa said.
D’Aversa and Henry expelled.
Michael Folorunsho scored early in the first half for Verona, which won 1-0.
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AP Soccer: https://apnews. com/hub/Soccer
Andrew Dampf, Associated Press
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