New-look Milan beats Brescia 1-0 in Serie A

MILAN (AP) — AC Milan coach Marco Giampaolo rang the changes and they paid off as the Rossoneri beat newly promoted Brescia 1-0 in Serie A on Saturday.

Giampaolo had lost his first match in charge last week, with Milan not even having a shot on target in a 1-0 defeat at Udinese. He responded by dropping Lucas Paqueta, Fabio Borini and — most surprisingly — Krzysztof Piatek to the bench.

It took less than 12 minutes for the new-look Milan to break the deadlock as Hakan Calhanoglu headed in Suso’s cross from the right.

Piatek was brought on in the second half and being dropped appeared to have had a positive effect on him as the Poland forward went close on several occasions.

Brescia goalkeeper Jesse Joronen pulled off a brilliant save to deny Piatek from point-blank range late on and fingertipped another shot from him out for a corner. From that, a Piatek effort did squeeze through his gloves but Joronen reached back to clear the ball off the line.

Fellow substitute Paqueta also hit the post when sent through by Piatek.

New Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri faces his former team later when the eight-time defending champion hosts perennial runner-up Napoli.