The move Christian Pulisic had adamantly lobbied for this summer proved to be the right one as the American led AC Milan to a 2-0 victory over Bologna on Monday night.

Summary

Olivier Giroud calmly delivered a shot into the back of the net 11 minutes into the match to put Milan in front. Pulisic doubled the Milanese advantage less than 10 minutes later, and Milan cruised to a 2-0 win the rest of the way.

Key moment: Christian Pulisic knocks in confident strike

At the 20-minute mark, Pulisic conducted a little give-and-go action with Giroud and powered a strike from outside the box inside the far post to put MIlan up 2-0. It increased the separation between the two sides, and served as a small-scale gut-punch to Chelsea for undervaluing and underplaying the American, just one day after losing to a shorthanded West Ham.

Significance

AC Milan made a statement with this win. After finishing Serie A in fourth place last season, Milan have ground to make up to challenge Napoli and the rest of the league’s top contenders for a Scudetto. Performances like these are necessary to keep pace with the big boys of Serie A, and the Giroud-Pulisic combination looks formidable enough to make results like this the standard for AC Milan.

Up next

Milan will face Torino in their home debut at 8:45 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 26, while Bologna visit Juventus at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27.