AC Milan survived for more than an hour with 10 men to move into third place in Serie A with a 1-0 win against rivals Udinese. The Rossoneri took the lead within 12 minutes when winger Samuel Chukwueze scored his first goal of the season, finding the bottom-left corner from Christian Pulisic's pass. But Paulo Fonseca's side were furious when midfielder Tijjani Reijnders was shown a straight red card for bringing down Sandi Lovric after half an hour.
Replays showed there was minimal contact between the Dutchman and the Slovenia midfielder after a long ball over the top, but the video assistant referee (VAR) saw no reason to intervene.
Udinese thought they had made their numerical advantage pay when Kingsley Ehizibue had the ball in the net just before half-time but VAR ruled it out after replays showed he was marginally offside.
Milan came close to doubling their lead with 15 minutes left but Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye denied both Pulisic and substitute Tammy Abraham in quick succession.
With less than a minute of added time left, Udinese thought they had snatched a share of the spoils when centre-back Christian Kabasele headed in from close range after Milan failed to clear their lines. But, for the second time, VAR intervened to disallow the goal as Jurgen Ekkelenkamp – who saw his effort saved from Mike Maignan before Kabasele's header – was offside.
