TURIN, Italy: A second-half double from substitute Christian Pulisic gave AC Milan a come-from- behind 3-2 win over Torino on Monday and swept them back to the top of Italy’s Serie A.
Weekend wins for title rivals Napoli and Internazionale left Milan in third and they knew three points were required to return to the summit.
However, they were 2-0 down after 17 minutes.
Nikola Vlašić gave the home side the lead with a penalty after nine minutes, and then made the second goal eight minutes later when he powered forward to feed Duvan Zapata, whose powerful angled drive beat Mike Maignan from 12 meters.
Milan got back into the game seven minutes later, Adrien Rabiot lashing in a shot from 35 meters that will feature in many goal of the season competitions come May.
It fell to American forward Pulisic to turn the game around with two second-half goals. After 67 minutes, one minute after replacing Davide Bartesaghi, he found himself unmarked in the box and made no mistake from close range.
Ten minutes later Pulisic put Milan ahead for the first time in the match when he swept home a low cross from the right.
Milan avoided what would have been only their second defeat of the season and extended their unbeaten league run to 13 games.
The result leaves Torino, a club with the worst defense in the league, in 16th place, one of four teams on 14 points.
Genoa beat Udinese
In Udine, Genoa won a second consecutive league match for the first time in almost two years when a late goal from Brooke Norton-Cuffy secured a 2-1 victory over Udinese.
The 83rd-minute decider was the England under-21 international’s first goal for the club since signing from Arsenal last year.
It followed a 34th-minute penalty from Ruslan Malinovskyi that put Genoa ahead, and a 65th minute equalizer by Jakub Piotrowski.
The result maintained Genoa’s revival under new coach Daniele De Rossi. They are unbeaten in their last four, with eight points from 12 since the former Roma midfielder took the helm.
The win lifted Genoa into 14th place, one of the four teams on 14 points. Udinese are three places above them with 18.
Parma sink Pisa
At the bottom of the table, a penalty from Adrian Benedyczak gave Parma a 1-0 win at Pisa.
The Polish forward struck after 40 minutes to move Parma four points clear of the relegation zone.
M’Bala Nzola came close three times for the home side in the second half. His day got worse in stoppage time when he was shown a straight red card for a senseless kick at Mandela Keita.
The result leaves Pisa third-bottom with 10 points from 14 games.
AC Milan back on top of Serie A thanks to Christian Pulisic double
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AC Milan back on top of Serie A thanks to Christian Pulisic double
- Milan got back into the game seven minutes later, Adrien Rabiot lashing in a shot from 35 meters
- It fell to American forward Pulisic to turn the game around with two second-half goals
Mid East Falcons and Mumbai Cobras to meet in historic United Series in Dubai
- The league’s top 2 teams collide in a best-of-3 series this weekend at Baseball United Ballpark in Dubai
DUBAI: The Mid East Falcons and Mumbai Cobras face-off on Friday night at Baseball United Ballpark in the United Series, the sport’s first regional championship.
Both teams finished tied atop the Baseball United season one standings with 6-3 records. However, Mumbai will start and close game three, if necessary, as the home team, since they finished first in the standings after winning the head-to-head series.
The Cobras are the first professional baseball team in the history of India. They represent nearly 30 million people in Mumbai and 1.5 billion people in India, the majority of whom are fans of bat-and-ball games, with cricket the nation’s top sport.
Baseball United has reached tens of millions of those fans this year through broadcasts on several of the network’s linear channels as well as the Zee 5 app.
The Mid East Falcons represent the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, and they have quickly grown both a regional following across the GCC, as well as a global fanbase in Japan.
More than half of the Falcons’ roster is made up of Japanese players, including Nippon Professional League legends Munenori Kawasaki and Hiroyuki Nakajima.
The team also has young prospects from the Yokohama Bay Stars, one of Japan’s top professional baseball teams, adding to its appeal within that baseball-loving nation.
Locally, the Falcons have drawn the largest attendance for each of their games at Baseball United Ballpark, with attendees from more than 50 nationalities coming to support the Mid East team.
“This is the United Series matchup that fans across the world were craving,” said Kash Shaikh, chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Baseball United.
“We have Mumbai vs. Mid East, the two top teams from the regular season who have rosters full of talent, character, and personality. The Falcons are both the UAE’s team and Japan’s team.
“The Cobras represent 1.5 billion people in India. All three nations, as well as fans across the baseball world, will be watching closely as we crown our first-ever United Series Champion this weekend.”
The United Series is a best-of-three championship contest. After Friday’s opening game, games two and three will follow on Saturday and Sunday.
The Falcons are managed by Dennis Cook, a 15-year MLB veteran who won a World Series title with the Florida Marlins in 1997. Cook has been a part of Baseball United since its inaugural showcase games in November 2023.
“Baseball United’s leadership team has done an outstanding job to get us to this point,” Cook said. “We are very excited to play against Mariano (Duncan) and the Mumbai Cobras, and we are very focused on becoming the first Baseball United champions in history.”
Cook has had a unique challenge of managing a roster in which the majority of the players do not communicate in English.
“We are a very diverse team, it’s been great to work with the Japanese kids. I admire them and I like the way we communicate. I don’t speak Japanese, but we have our own way to communicate and it has been a lot of fun.”
The Falcons led the league in both batting (.271 BA) and pitching (2.25 ERA) as a team, and nearly swept the league’s regular season awards, with Kazuki Yabuta (Best Pitcher), Manato Tanai (Best Fielder), Munenori Kawasaki (Clubhouse Award), and Alejandro De Aza (Sportsmanship).
In addition, Nakajima has been atop the league leaders in batting (.400) throughout the year. LHP Shuto Sakurai will be the starting pitcher for game one of the United Series.
Brantley Bell (.441 BA, 1.213 OPS), the star third baseman from the Cobras, won the league’s first-ever Most Valuable Player Award. In addition to Bell, Caleb McNeely (3 HRs, 10 RBIs, .688 SLG), Lou Helmig (2 HR, 10 RBIs) and Miguel Ojeda Jr. (2 HR, 8 RBIs) led the Cobras’ batting attack.
The Mumbai bullpen was also solid all year behind Akeel Morris (0.00 ERA) and LHP Brandon Kaminer (0.00 ERA), who together have accumulated 18.0 scoreless innings with 16 strikeouts.
In addition, there are three Indian-born pitchers who have caused a sensation in their country: Akshay More, Tushar Lalwani and Saurabh Gaikwad.
More is 2-0 with 11.1 innings pitched and a 1.59 ERA. Karan Patel, the franchise’s No. 1 starter, will take the mound to start the United Series on Friday night. Patel has 14 strikeouts in 10.1 innings.
Duncan, a 12-year MLB veteran who won two World Series Championships, manages the Mumbai Cobras. He has also been a part of Baseball United since the Dubai Showcase in 2023.
“It’s been an honor to be part of Baseball United. The first season has been an amazing experience, I’m so proud to be part of this history.
“This team has a great chemistry and passion for the game of baseball, but we also have good batting, good pitching, power and speed, and we are going to close strong to make history this weekend.”
