Milan 1-0 Udinese: Chukwueze goal enough despite Reijnders red card

By Sports Desk October 19, 2024

Ten-man Milan held on to secure a 1-0 home win over Udinese thanks to Samuel Chukwueze's early goal.

Chukwueze struck low into the corner from a Christian Pulisic assist in the 13th minute of Saturday's Serie A contest at San Siro.

Yet the challenge of holding onto that lead was made much tougher when midfielder Tijjani Reijnders was sent off.

Netherlands international Reijnders received his marching orders in the 29th minute after colliding with Sandi Lovric, who was through on goal.

Milan are third in the league standings with 14 points, equal with Inter Milan in second and two behind leaders Napoli.

Udinese pushed to exploit their numerical advantage in the second half and they found the net through Christian Kabasele deep into stoppage time.

However, after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was disallowed for offside, ensuring the win for Milan.

Data Debrief: Captain America

Milan star Pulisic is the only player to have scored 10+ goals (17) and provided 10+ assists (11) from the beginning of last season in Serie A.

In fact, only Chelsea's Cole Palmer (44 – 28G, 16A) has been directly involved in more goals than Pulisic (28 – 17G, 11A) of midfielders in the big five European Leagues from the beginning of 2023-24.

Milan had to do it the hard way following Reijnders' dismissal. Only Bologna (54) have received more red cards than Milan in the last 10 Serie A campaigns (53).

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    Milan won 1-0 in the Serie A clash at home after an early goal from Samuel Chukwueze, despite being reduced to 10 men following Tijjani Reijnders' red card at the half-hour mark.

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    Fonseca believed his side deserved the win, despite Udinese having two goals disallowed, one from Kingsley Ehizibue and another from Christian Kabasele following a tight offside call.

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    "Surely I don’t like the result because it was possible to go home with a draw." 

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