AC Milan manager Paulo Fonseca praised Christian Pulisic‘s all-round performance as his side beat Udinese 1-0 on Saturday despite being down to 10 men for more than an hour.
United States star Pulisic registered his 11th goal contribution in 13 games for club and country this season with his assist for Samuel Chukwueze to open the scoring for Milan in the 13th minute at the San Siro.
But Fonseca also praised Pulisic for his defensive work as Milan held on for the victory, despite midfielder Tijjani Reijnders being shown a straight red card in the 29th minute.
“Christian’s game was fantastic,” Fonseca told DAZN. “This is the spirit that we must always have.”
Pulisic, who missed the USMNT’s defeat to Mexico on Tuesday in order to return to Milan, has been involved in at least one goal in seven straight league matches; producing five goals and three assists.
The radically changed Rossoneri started brightly against Udinese and took the lead when Noah Okafor muscled his way down the left flank and rolled it across for Pulisic, who set up Chukwueze to sweep it into the far bottom corner.
The win moved Milan level on points with third-placed Inter Milan, which plays at Roma on Sunday.
“I must say that the game had two parts,” Fonseca added. “The first one until minute 30 when we received a red card.
“We played 30 minutes with great personality and quality. It was close to my idea. After the red card, it was a game made of team spirit.
“We suffered, but we suffered together. If there was any doubt on whether this team was united, today we proved we are.”
Fonseca stated that his side deserved the win, despite Udinese having two goals disallowed, one from Kingsley Ehizibue and another from Christian Kabasele following the narrowest of offside calls.
“It would have been unfair for the team. We had the best chances and it would have been unfair not to win this game. The team deserved these three points,” he said.
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
