Christian Pulisic had a goal and a decisive pass and Santiago Gimenez scored twice to fuel AC Milan with a crucial 3-1 home victory against Bologna and keep its European football hopes next season.
The result raised Milan to eighth with 60 points, three behind Juventus in fourth, which will face sixth place on Saturday, also on 63 points. Bologna is September with 62 points. The first four will enter the Champions League and the fifth and sixth placed teams will qualify respectively for the Europa League and the Conference League.
The match also acted as a dress rehearsal for the Coppa Italia final on Wednesday, where the two games will once again compete in olimpico olimmatic stadio in Rome.
With the victory, Milan won 22 points for the loss of posts this season – only Atlético Madrid has a higher total, with 23, in the European Big Five leagues.
“From tomorrow, we are going to start preparing for the Italia COPPA. We must learn from what we did and did not do, because there were negatives and positive points tonight,” Milan’s head coach told Sky Sport Italia.
“I expect differences to the two teams, but it’s a final, sometimes the team that does not play the best football eventually winning,” he added.
Marco Luzzani / Getty Images
Milan had an early fear when defender Fikayo Tomori took an unpleasant blow in the first minutes, overcoming his head the first in the back of a Bologna player. The English defender looked visibly dazed and was forced shortly after, apparently struggling with a potential head injury.
The hosts had the momentum in the first half, with Pulisic and Luka Jovic performing likely, but they could not find the breakthrough. Bologna remained dangerous on the counter, but the sides went into the break constantly.
Riccardo Orsolini took care of four minutes after the break, cutting from the right and piercing a low shot in the area to put Bologna at the front.
However, Gimenez equalized in the 73rd minute with a fresh finish after Pulisic installed it inside the box.
The Mexican international of Argentinian origin was prohibited from a second goal two minutes later, but another goal seemed inevitable when Milan was advancing. He came four minutes later and again Pulisic was involved.
Joao Felix’s 79th minute shot was blocked but fell perfectly for the Americans and it coldly broke the ball at 12 meters.
Gimenez crowned a remarkable performance in time of time when he made room inside the box and marked his second and the third in Milan.
The information from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this report.
