AC Milan 4-0 Venezia: Rossoneri cruise to comfortable home victory
Paulo Fonseca achieved his inaugural Serie A victory as the head coach of AC Milan, leading his team to a decisive 4-0 triumph over a 10-man Venezia at the San Siro.
The Portuguese manager finally experienced success after three consecutive winless matches in Serie A to commence the season, with his team already on track for three points just two minutes into the game.
Venezia goalkeeper Jesse Joronen will likely wish to forget the opening goal, as Rafael Leao's audacious assist set up Theo Hernandez, whose shot at the near post slipped past the Finnish keeper.
Milan extended their advantage in the 16th minute through Matteo Gabbia, who was perfectly positioned to direct Christian Pulisic's corner over the goal line.
The visitors faced a challenging evening, which was exacerbated when referee Davide Di Marco awarded a penalty after Joronen fouled Tammy Abraham in the box.
Pulisic confidently converted the ensuing penalty, as Joronen dove in the wrong direction.
Remarkably, Milan received another penalty following a VAR review that confirmed Joel Schingtienne had unlawfully obstructed Leao in the area.
This time, Abraham took responsibility and calmly rolled the ball into the net, marking his first goal for the club and ensuring that Milan scored four goals in a Serie A match for the first time since October 1958, establishing a commanding lead at halftime.
It appeared that a fifth goal was imminent when Joronen was called upon once more to thwart Leao, but the Portuguese forward left the field without adding to his tally after being substituted for Alvaro Morata shortly after the hour mark.
Eusebio Di Francesco could only wish for such attacking options, as his team was denied a consolation goal when Francesco Zampano's effort was swept under Mike Maignan.
The situation deteriorated further for Venezia after a VAR review, which resulted in Hans Nicolussi Caviglia receiving a second yellow card for a poorly timed tackle on Ruben Loftus-Cheek, thereby reducing the visitors to ten players.
The Rossoneri managed to navigate the final moments of the match with relative comfort, successfully avoiding the ignominy of becoming only the second Milan team in the past 65 years to fail to secure a victory in their first four league encounters.
In addition, Di Francesco has now suffered defeat in six of his last seven encounters against Milan, leaving the Arancioneroverdi at the bottom of the table with three losses and one draw this season.
SportsLigue