Milan beats Lecce but fails to impress again
AC Milan recovered from its opening day loss with a 2-0 win at Lecce in Serie A, but despite goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic, the visitors again struggled to impress.
Milan fell to a 2-1 home defeat against promoted Cremonese last weekend to put manager Massimiliano Allegri under pressure on his return to the club where he previously won the league title in his first spell.
Allegri's side began brightly and looked to have taken an early lead when Matteo Gabbia headed in from a corner but a video assistant referee (VAR) check disallowed the goal for a push on his marker.
Milan, lacking attacking options after the departures of Tammy Abraham, Luka Jovic and Noah Okafor in the off-season, while Rafael Leao is injured, deployed midfielder Alexis Saelemaekers as a makeshift forward alongside Santiago Gimenez.
It took more than half an hour for Milan to create another real chance, this time Lecce keeper Wladimiro Falcone pulled off a one-handed save from Loftus-Cheek's close-range header.
Milan should have taken the lead just before the break but Gimenez pulled his shot wide when through one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Lecce, without a shot on target in the first half, had the opening chance of the second period but Mohamed Kaba's scuffed effort never troubled Milan keeper Mike Maignan.
Gimenez almost made up for his earlier miss when he collected a pass from Saelemaekers in the box and converted, but once again Milan's goal was disallowed, this time for offside.
Milan finally found a goal which was not chalked off, when Luka Modric floated a free kick into the box and Loftus-Cheek sent a glancing header looping past Falcone to give his side the lead in the 66th minute.
Nikola Stulic forced Maignan into a save as Lecce pushed for an equaliser while Falcone parried away a shot from Milan replacement Samuele Ricci, and the game looked set to peter out without any further goals, before a Lecce defensive mix-up.
The home defenders failed to deal with a Maignan long punt forward, allowing substitute Pulisic to slot the ball coolly into the bottom corner.
Despite the win, an animated Allegri looked far from happy on the sidelines, and stormed down the tunnel at the final whistle.
Milan finished eighth last season, which cost it a place in European competitions and manager Sergio Conceicao his job, and two games into the campaign, Allegri will be well aware of just how difficult a task he has on his hands.
