AC Milan 2-1 Napoli: Saelemaekers and Pulisic score in crucial win

AC Milan made a big statement early in the season as they meant champions Napoli 2-1 at San Siro on Sunday night.

The Rossoneri went two goals up before half-time as Alexis Saelemaekers and Christian Pulisic scored inside the first 45 minutes. A red card in the second half made things a bit more shaky, but in the end Milan held out for a massive three points,

Massimiliano Allegri chose to make no changes from the last starting XI that he named for the win over Udinese in the league, opting for consistency over anything radical.

Less than three minutes into the game, Milan took the lead. It was a brilliant bit of work by Christian Pulisic, who rolled his man and chased a ball down the touchline. He cut it back to Alexis Saelemaekers, who was unmarked at the back post and fired into a virtually unguarded net.

Two minutes after going behind, Napoli immediately set about trying to level proceedings. Firstly Gutierrez had a header towards the far post that Mike Maignan saved, and them McTominay had an angled drive saved.

In the 27th minute, Milan really should have gone 2-0 up. Pulisic played a ball around the corner on the left wing that set Youssouf Fofana away, yet he rattled the bar with his shot.

Just after the half-hour mark, Milan doubled their advantage and it came through Christian Pulisic. Strahinja Pavlovic was the creator as he went on a driving run down the left side of the box and cut the ball back to Fofana, who laid it off perfectly for Pulisic to fire in via a deflection.

With three minutes to go until the break, a huge moment in the match occurred. As Politano crossed the ball and Anguissa headed towards goal, Maignan saved brilliantly. However, Estupinan was adjudged to have brought his man down and was given a red card after a VAR review, and De Bruyne stuck away the penalty.

At the midway point of the second half, Allegri made a couple of changes. Rafael Leao and Zachary Athekame came off, with Gimenez and Saelemaekers coming off.

As was to be expected, the away side started piling on the pressure. Di Lorenzo met a short corner that was whipped towards the near post, however he was unable to guide it towards goal and instead it flew over the bar.

With just over 10 minutes to go, Allegri made a couple of changes. Tomori and Fofana came off, making way for Koni De Winter and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Moments after coming on, Leao had a chance to kill the game as he led a counter from one end to the other. However, he overplayed the ball and the tackle sent the ball into the stands.

At the end of the 90 minutes, there was a real moment of danger for Milan as Perez left fly from 25 yards and hit the corner of the post and crossbar, with the ball flying behind for a goal kick with Maignan beaten.