Christian Pulisic scored in his first start for more than a month and Mike Maignan saved a penalty as AC Milan beat Inter Milan 1-0 in a thrilling derby on Sunday.
Milan’s win prevented its city rival from going joint top of Serie A.
That left Roma as sole leader after Gian Piero Gasperini’s side won 3-1 at Cremonese earlier in the day. Roma has 27 points, two more than Milan and Napoli and three more than Inter and Bologna.
Maignan was named player of the match, an accolade Pulisic agreed with.
“100%. I just scored an easy goal, he saved us maybe 10 times,” Pulisic said. “For me, it’s my job, I have to score goals. I was in the right place at the right time.”
Pulisic had returned from injury in Milan’s last match, coming on in the 70th minute and almost scoring a late winner in the 2-2 draw at Parma.
The United States international had been Milan’s best player until his injury and proved he was back to that form when he pounced in the 54th minute. Youssouf Fofana stole the ball off Hakan Calhanoglu in midfield and sent Alexis Saelemaekers on a rapid counterattack. His effort was saved by Yann Sommer but Pulisic tapped in the rebound.
Inter had hit the woodwork twice before that goal and was offered a golden opportunity to level when it was awarded a penalty after Milan defender Strahinja Pavlovic stepped on Marcus Thuram’s foot. However, Maignan saved Çalhanoğlu’s effort.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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