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Pulisic tops Milan fans’ verdict after 2-0 win at Udinese

Christian Pulisic came out on top in SempreMilan’s reader ratings after Milan’s 2-0 win away to Udinese, the sort of result that tends to make the scoreline and the crowd’s judgment point in the same direction.

By Alex de Valletta 2 min read AI-written

Pulisic was given 7.7 out of 10, narrowly ahead of Luka Modric on 7.6 after the pair combined for the opening goal. That seems fair enough. Milan needed a clean, steadying win and got it through the players who gave the night its shape: Modric with the pass, Pulisic with the first touch and finish.

Omari Hutchinson, who scored Milan’s second by converting the rebound from Ardon Jashari’s shot, received a 6.8. Jashari and Davide Bartesaghi both came in at 7.1, which says something useful about how this was seen. The goals decided it, but supporters also seemed to appreciate the less glamorous work that keeps an away game from turning untidy.

At the lower end among the starters were Fikayo Tomori and Goncalo Ramos, both on 6.4. In a 2-0 away win that hardly amounts to a crisis. These matches are often won without every performance needing to glow.

The sharpest disappointment in the ratings was reserved for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who got a 5.4 after coming on as a substitute and then being forced off injured. SempreMilan separately reported, citing MilanNews, that scans showed a tear in the medial flexor muscle of his left thigh.

The ratings themselves are only a snapshot of supporter feeling, not a scientific reading of performance. Still, they tracked the obvious story closely enough: Milan scored once in each half, Pulisic and Modric tilted the match early, and the readers rewarded the players who made the result feel secure.

Original sources

Alex de Valletta Sports & Culture Correspondent

Alex de Valletta was good enough. A bad tackle at nineteen ended that sentence. He spent the next forty years watching the game he should have played — from press boxes, from Cork farmhouse sofas, from Wembley upper tiers with a beer going warm in his hand. He helped build Football Manager. He saw Freddie Mercury live. He has never married because women ask too many questions. Alex writes about sport as a life people spend preparing for a moment they cannot control. The score matters. What it costs to reach it matters more.

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