AC Milan made several changes and still managed to beat Udinese 1-0 in Serie A on Saturday, even after being reduced to 10 players.
Theo Hernández was suspended, and Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori, and Rafael Leão were left out of the lineup. Milan faced a tougher challenge when midfielder Tijjani Reijnders received a red card in the 29th minute.
Luckily for Milan, Samuel Chukwueze scored in the 13th minute with help from Christian Pulisic. They managed to hold on, even after Udinese had two goals disallowed for offside, including one late in stoppage time.
With this win, Milan is now level on points with third-placed Inter Milan, which plays against Roma on Sunday. Juventus moved two points ahead of them after a narrow 1-0 win against 10-man Lazio.
Milan had lost 2-1 to Fiorentina before the international break, where Hernández and Abraham missed penalty kicks. Hernández was sent off after the game for insulting the referee and received a two-match ban.
The changed Milan team started strong against Udinese, taking the lead when Noah Okafor pushed down the left and set up Pulisic, who assisted Chukwueze to score in the far bottom corner.
Pulisic has been involved in at least one goal for seven straight league matches, with five goals and three assists.
Milan was in control until Reijnders was sent off for tripping Sandi Lovric as he was breaking toward the goal.
Kingsley Ehizibue thought he had equalized for Udinese right before halftime, but he was offside by a very narrow margin.
Pulisic almost doubled Milan’s lead in the 75th minute, but his shot was saved by Maduka Okoye. Abraham, who had just come on, injured his shoulder trying to score from the rebound and had to leave the game.
Udinese looked like they had scored again when Christian Kabasele headed in a rebound in stoppage time, but VAR ruled it offside after a very close call in the buildup.
