MILAN —
American Christian Pulisic reached 10 goals for the first time in a season after his sublime effort in AC Milan’s 3-0 victory against Lecce in Serie A on Saturday.
Pulisic scored early to surpass his previous mark of nine goals with Premier League club Chelsea in the 2019-20 campaign. The winger also has three goals in Europe and has already surpassed his best overall mark in a season.
Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leão also scored against Lecce, who played the entire match with 10 players after Nikola Krstović was sent off.
Milan could even afford to make changes in the second half because they will face Roma in the Europa League quarterfinals on Thursday. Roma later faces Lazio in the capital derby.
Second-place Milan cut the gap on leader Inter Milan to 11 points before the Nerazzurri face Udinese on Monday.
Lecce remains four points clear of the relegation zone.
On a lonely day at San Siro, Samuel Chukwueze cut down the right into the box, beating two defenders before finding Pulisic on the edge of the box. This was just after six minutes of play. Pulisic came close to extending the lead minutes later, but Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone avoided the header.
Lecce almost cut the difference, but Joan González’s header hit the crossbar. The visitors’ chances were reduced with Krstović being sent off for a high tackle on Chukwueze.
Milan sealed the result in the 57th after Leão dived to take Théo Hernández’s pass.