MILAN: AC Milan beat Lecce 3-0 in Serie A on Friday as Alvaro Morata, Theo Hernandez and Christian Pulisic sealed the win just before the break, scoring all goals inside five minutes.

Milan, who travel to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Tuesday, provisionally moved up to second in the standings on 11 points, level with leaders Torino who host Lazio on Sunday.

A largely uneventful first half sprung to life when Morata gave Milan the lead in the 38th minute with a towering header, nodding home a Hernandez free kick before the ball bounced in off the inside of the bar.

The Spain striker scored his second goal for Milan after he had netted in their season-opening 2-2 draw against Torino.

Hernandez doubled the advantage three minutes later with a shot into the roof of the net from a precise low cross by Rafael Leao.

With 29 goals to his name, the French left-back equalled Paolo Maldini as the defender with the most goals scored for Milan in Serie A history.

Pulisic added a third two minutes from halftime as he got to the rebound and struck into the middle of the net, moments after Tammy Abraham hit the post.

Lecce looked good throughout the game as they searched for chances on counter-attack and had overall 16 attempts compared to 15 by Milan.

The hosts, however, continued to push and Ruben Loftus-Cheek hit the bar in the second half.

Milan were left with 10 men in the 80th minute after substitute Davide Bartesaghi was sent off for his tackle on Lecce winger Lameck Banda five minutes after coming on in place of Hernandez.

“That’s what makes football so great, things can change for the better or worse over 90 minutes,” said Milan coach Paulo Fonseca, who had been heavily criticised after his team were given a footballing lesson by Liverpool 10 days ago.

“It was important to win after winning the derby... it was difficult to get our feet back on the ground but the players knew what needed to be done and won the match.”

Milan, who beat Venezia 4-0 in their previous home game, have scored three or more first-half goals in two consecutive home games for the first time since 2009.

Lecce, who last beat Milan at San Siro in Serie A in October 1997, remained one place above the relegation zone with five points.

They next travel to fourth-placed Udinese on Oct 5.

Milan, who had secured a hard-fought 2-1 derby win over Inter Milan last weekend, visit Fiorentina in Serie A on Oct 6.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2024