Genoa 1-2 AC Milan: Alphadjo Cissè and Christian Pulisic score inside 19 minutes

AC Milan made light work of the opening quarter of an hour at the Luigi Ferraris, going 2-0 up inside 19 minutes through Alphadjo Cissè and Christian Pulisic before Genoa had found their footing. Cissè opened the scoring in the 13th minute, finishing a move set up by Adrien Rabiot, and Pulisic doubled it six minutes later from a Gonçalo Ramos pass. Genoa pulled one back deep into stoppage time through Mikael Ellertsson, but Milan's fast start had already done the damage, and the 2-1 win takes them above Como into fourth place in Serie A.

Cissè and Pulisic settle it early

Both goals came from the same pattern: Milan moving the ball quickly through midfield and finding a runner in behind Genoa's back line. Cissè's finish arrived first, teed up by Rabiot, and Pulisic followed it up with a goal of his own from a Ramos assist barely six minutes later. Two goals in 19 minutes against a side that had won four of its previous five matches was as emphatic a statement as Milan could have made, and it left Genoa chasing the game for the rest of the afternoon.

A number that stood out: Genoa's shots on target

For all that the scoreline and the possession table — Milan had 62.3% of the ball to Genoa's 37.7% — suggest a one-sided afternoon, Genoa actually out-shot Milan on target, 5 to 2. It is the kind of imbalance that explains why Ellertsson's 88th-minute finish, set up by substitute Tommaso Baldanzi, arrived as a genuine possibility rather than a consolation out of nothing: Genoa had chances throughout, they simply did not take enough of them before the closing minutes.

Four Milan bookings in a feisty finish

Milan picked up four yellow cards over the course of the match — Sankhoun Diawara in the 28th minute, Rabiot and the hosts' Alessandro Marcandalli both booked in the 50th, then Pulisic in the 76th and Mario Gila in the 87th — a tally that points to a game with an edge to it even as the visitors controlled the scoreline. Genoa's Kingsley Ehizibue was shown a card of his own in stoppage time as the hosts pushed for an equaliser that never came.

Form coming in

Genoa arrived on the back of four wins in their previous five Serie A matches, a run that had lifted them well clear of the relegation zone, so this was not a struggling side being swept aside — it was a team in form that ran into an opponent playing even better football in the moments that mattered. Milan, for their part, kept rolling after the derby win over Inter the previous matchday, a third victory in their last four league games.

What it means in the table

Milan's win takes them to 24 points and fourth place, above Como on goal difference and within three points of third-placed Roma. Genoa stay 13th on 13 points, their four-match winning streak ended but their position in the table — comfortably clear of the bottom three — untouched by a defeat to one of the division's better sides.

Scorers

• 13' — Alphadjo Cissè (AC Milan), assisted by Adrien Rabiot
• 19' — Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), assisted by Gonçalo Ramos
• 88' — Mikael Ellertsson (Genoa), assisted by Tommaso Baldanzi

Match facts

Line-ups

What's next

AC Milan move to 24 points and fourth place, two points behind third-placed Roma and ahead of Como on goal difference, with the derby win over Inter and this victory in Genoa making it back-to-back league wins since the loss to Bologna. Genoa stay 13th on 13 points, well clear of the relegation zone, and will look to start a new run when Serie A resumes after the international break.