TURIN, Italy (AP) – AC Milan returned to the top of Italy’s Serie A with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Torino on Monday, thanks to a second-half double from substitute Christian Pulisic.
Victories for title rivals Napoli and Inter at the weekend mean Milan are now in third place, meaning they need three points to return to the top of the table.
However, after 17 minutes, they were losing 2-0.
Nikola Vlasic gave the hosts the lead with a penalty after nine minutes, and scored the second goal eight minutes later, feeding Duvan Zapata at power forward. A powerful angled drive beat Mike Menyan from 12 meters out.
Milan were back in the game seven minutes later, with Adrien Rabiot scoring from 35 meters. This shot will be the highlight of many Goal of the Season events in May.
American forward Pulisic turned things around with two goals in the second half. He made no mistake from close range when he was free in the box in the 67th minute, one minute after being replaced by Davide Bartesaghi.
Ten minutes later, Pulisic slotted in a low cross from the right to give Milan the lead for the first time in the match.
Milan avoided a second defeat of the season and extended their unbeaten run in the league to 13 games.
As a result, Torino, which boasts the worst defense in the league, ranks 16th, one of four teams with 14 points.
Genoa beat Udinese
In Udine, Genoa beat Udinese 2-1 thanks to a late goal from Brooke Norton-Cuffee, securing their second straight league win for the first time in almost two years.
The 83rd-minute winner was the England Under-21 international’s first goal for the club since signing from Arsenal last year.
Ruslan Malinovskyi’s penalty put Genoa ahead in the 34th minute, and Jakub Piotrovskiy equalized in the 65th minute.
The result maintained Genoa’s resurgence under new manager Daniele De Rossi. Since the former Roma midfielder took over, they are unbeaten in their last four games and have scored eight points in 12 games.
With this win, Genoa moved up to 14th place, one of four teams with 14 points. Udinese are three places higher in 18th place.
Parma sinks Pisa
At the bottom of the table, Adrian Benedichak’s penalty gave Parma a 1-0 victory over Pisa.
The Polish forward scored after 40 minutes to lift Parma four points out of the relegation zone.
Mbala Nzora came close for the home side three times in the second half. His day got even worse in stoppage time when he was shown a straight red card for a senseless kick on Mandela Keita.
As a result, Pisa are now third in the bottom of the table with 10 points after 14 games.
___
AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
