Serie A | Venezia 0-2 Milan: Pulisic and Gimenez secure victory on the Laguna | OneFootball

Milan secured victory away to relegation-threatened Venezia thanks to an early Christian Pulisic goal and late Santiago Gimenez lob, but the hosts had strong penalty appeals rejected.

The Rossoneri were languishing in ninth place in Serie A, but revitalised by Wednesday’s 3-0 Coppa Italia semi-final victory over Inter. Emerson Royal was still out of action, so stuck with the same starting XI until Luka Jovic pulled out in the warm-up, replaced by Tammy Abraham. The Lagunari lost only one of the last eight games, drawing with Lazio, Atalanta, Como and Napoli. Daniel Fila returned from suspension, missing Michael Svoboda, Richie Sagrado and Mikel Ellertsson.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

It took just five minutes to break through, as the poor clearance fell straight to Alex Jimenez and Youssouf Fofana immediately threaded through for Pulisic to spring the offside trap, beating Ionut Radu one-on-one.

Alessio Zerbin drilled inches wide after John Yeboah shook off Stanislav Pavlovic, while Yeboah flashed a ball across the face of goal from a corner that nobody was able to reach for a tap-in.

Hans Nicolussi Caviglia’s free kick was also just past the far post, but when Yeboah did fire in from 12 yards on the Ridgeciano Haps pull-back from the left at the 33rd minute, it was disallowed for the earlier Gianluca Busio offside in the build-up.

VENICE, ITALY – APRIL 27: John Yeboah of Venezia makes a run into the penalty area under pressure from Strahinja Pavlovic of Milan during the Serie A match between Venezia and AC Milan at Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo on April 27, 2025 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Timothy Rogers/Getty Images)

Pulisic also had the ball in the net on 44 minutes, but was a long way offside on the ball over the top.

After the restart, Nicolussi Caviglia’s volley skimmed the upright, while Pavlovic ran a huge risk when Yeboah had tried to squirm past him at the by-line, but the referee evaluated it to be a fair challenge inside the penalty area.

Santiago Gimenez could only graze his head to a cross from Ruben Loftus-Cheek, while Venezia poured forward in the final stages, Alessio Zerbin curling inches wide from the edge of the area.

However, just as they were under siege, Milan struck on the counter with an inspired Tijjani Reijnders pass allowed to bounce as Gimenez lobbed the on-rushing goalkeeper.

Venezia 0-2 Milan

Pulisic 5 (M), Gimenez 95 (M)