Pulisic stunner saves 10-man Milan at Monza — but only temporarily

AC Milan’s American forward #11 Christian Pulisic (L) celebrates with his teammates after scoring his team second goal during the Italian Serie A football match between AC Monza and AC Milan at the Brianteo stadium in Monza, on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP) (Photo by PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP via Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 775999927 ORIG FILE ID: 2013758032

Christian Pulisic returned to the scoresheet in emphatic style on Sunday, but his late equalizer was quickly answered as 10-man AC Milan fell 4-2 at Monza.

After a run of games without a goal or assist, Pulisic started Sunday’s match on the bench — the first time he was fit and didn’t start a Serie A game for Milan since October.

With Pulisic on the bench, Milan started the match at the Stadio Brianteo in disastrous fashion. Monza scored two goals just before the break to take a 2-0 lead at halftime.

With his side down, Milan head coach Stefano Pioli made a triple change at halftime. Pulisic, Rafael Leão and Tijjani Reijnders all entered the game for the Rossoneri — but disaster struck again just 10 minutes into the half.

Milan striker Luka Jović picked up a brainless red card for striking Monza defender Armando Izzo off the ball, which was spotted after a VAR review.

But up two goals and a man, Monza would take its foot off the pedal and allow Milan to take control of the game. Olivier Giroud would put Milan right back into the match with a header on 64 minutes, which was assisted with a headed flick-on from Pulisic.

Two goals and a player down, Giroud gives AC Milan hope 👀 pic.twitter.com/EnORlOu1Rd

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 18, 2024

The assist snapped a five-game league run without a goal or assist for Pulisic, but the best was yet to come. The U.S. national team star looked to have stolen a point when he collected the ball on the right side of the area, cut in, and unleashed an unstoppable drive that flew into the corner.

CHRISTIAN PULISIC GOLAZO TO BRING MILAN LEVEL LATE 🇺🇸🦅 pic.twitter.com/S5PT1TxxC1

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 18, 2024

But the visitors would only stay level for two minutes. Warren Bondo took advantage of some slack marking to fire home a dramatic winner in the 90th minute, with Milan loanee Lorenzo Colombo scoring deep into stoppage time to give Monza a 4-2 win.

Pulisic now has seven goals and six assists in Serie A this season, as he continues to impress in his debut campaign in Italy. For Milan, though, defeat essentially ends any remaining hopes of a title pursuit.

Inter now sits atop Serie A, nine points ahead of second-place Juventus and 11 points above Milan, with a game on hand on both teams to boot.

This article originally appeared on Pro Soccer Wire: Pulisic stunner saves 10-man Milan at Monza — but only temporarily