Milan holds on with 10 men to edge Udinese while Juventus beats 10-man Lazio

MILAN (AP) — AC Milan rang the changes and was reduced to 10 men and still beat Udinese 1-0 in Serie A on Saturday.

Theo Hernández was suspended and Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and Rafael Leão were dropped by Milan. The Rossoneri’s task became harder when midfielder Tijjani Reijnders was shown a straight red card in the 29th minute.

Fortunately for Milan, Samuel Chukwueze earned the lead in the 13th minute following yet another assist by Christian Pulisic. They held on after Udinese had two goals ruled out for offside, including one deep in stoppage time.

The Rossoneri moved level on points with third-placed Inter Milan, which plays at Roma on Sunday. Juventus moved two points above them after managing to scrape a late 1-0 win over 10-man Lazio.

Milan lost at Fiorentina 2-1 before the international break in a match in which Hernández and Abraham had penalty kicks saved. Hernández was sent off after the final whistle for insulting the referee and given a two-match ban.

The radically changed Rossoneri started brightly against Udinese and took the lead when Noah Okafor muscled his way down the left flank and rolled it across for Pulisic, who set up Chukwueze to sweep it into the far bottom corner.

Pulisic has been involved in at least one goal in seven straight league matches; producing five goals and three assists.

Milan was dominating until Reijnders was sent off for catching Sandi Lovric’s heel and tripping him as the Udinese midfielder ran clear on goal.

Kingsley Ehizibue thought he headed Udinese level on the stroke of halftime but he was offside by the tightest of margins.

Pulisic came close to doubling Milan’s lead in the 75th but his effort was saved by Maduka Okoye. Abraham, who had come on only three minutes earlier, injured his shoulder as he tried to bundle in the rebound and had to be taken off.

Udinese appeared to level again when Christian Kabasele headed in a rebound in the fifth minute of stoppage time. However, VAR ruled another tight offside decision in the chaotic buildup.

Lazio managed to hold out for more than an hour with 10 men before an own goal consigned it to defeat.

Defender Alessio Romagnoli was issued a straight red card in the 24th for a tackle on Juve's Pierre Kalulu when he was clear on goal.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, Juventus didn't have a shot on target until the 81st when Lazio goalkeeper Ivan Provedel parried a curled Dusan Vlahovic effort.

The home side was gifted the winning goal four minutes later when Lazio defender Mario Gila tried to intercept a cross from Juan Cabal and succeeded only in turning it into his own net.

Vlahovic had also earlier hit the crossbar in one of Juve's few sights of goal.

A second-half double from Andrea Pinamonti saw Genoa come back from two goals down to draw with Bologna 2-2.

Bologna, which faces Aston Villa in the Champions League midweek, thought it was heading for what would have been only its second win after goals from Riccardo Orsolini and Jens Odgaard.

But Pinamonti curled into the far bottom corner in the 73rd and headed in a free kick 12 minutes later.

Como drew with Parma 1-1 in a match between promoted sides.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

CORRECTS DAY - Juventus' head coach Thiago Motta at the Serie A soccer match against Lazio, at the Allianz Stadium in Torino, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP)

CORRECTS DAY- Lazio's Patric, left, vies for the ball with Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic during the Serie A soccer match at the Allianz Stadium in Torino, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP)

CORRECTS DAY - Lazio's Alessio Romagnoli is issued a red card during the Serie A soccer match against Juventus at the Allianz Stadium in Torino, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (Marco Alpozzi/LaPresse via AP)

THE GOAL WAS DISALLOWED - Udinese's Christian Kabasele, right, celebrates after scoring a disallowed goal during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Udinese at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

AC Milan's Tammy Abraham reacts leaving the pitch after an injury during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Udinese at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

AC Milan's Christian Pulisic, left, and Udinese's Iker Bravo challenge for the ball during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Udinese at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

AC Milan's Tijjani Reijnders leaves the pitch after receiving the red card during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Udinese at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

AC Milan's Samuel Chukwueze, second from left, celebrates with Christian Pulisic, left, after scoring the opening goal during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Udinese at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

AC Milan's Samuel Chukwueze, background centre, celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Udinese at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

THE GOAL WAS DISALLOWED Udinese's Christian Kabasele, second from right, celebrates with teammates after scoring a disallowed goal during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Udinese at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

AC Milan's Samuel Chukwueze, left, and Udinese's Jordan Zemura challenge for the ball during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Udinese at the San Siro Stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kyle Larson has been lucky of late in Las Vegas, where he opens the third round of NASCAR's playoffs on top of the Cup Series standings and the favorite to win Sunday's race.

Larson heads into the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as both the defending race winner and the victor of the spring race there this season. A victory on Sunday would be three straight at Vegas, a season sweep, but most importantly, give Larson an automatic berth into the championship finale.

The playoff field started at 16 drivers and the three-race round of eight begins in Las Vegas to set the winner-take-all championship four finale. The third round next goes to Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway in Virginia before the finale at Phoenix.

“Las Vegas has been one of our better tracks," Larson said of his chances Sunday. “On paper, all three tracks in the round of eight stack up pretty well ... but we still have to go out and execute. I would like to run well and win.”

Larson already has two wins through the first two rounds of the playoffs, at Bristol Motor Speedway in the first round and then last week's elimination race on the hybrid/road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That victory was his Cup Series-best sixth win of the season.

Larson left victory lane at Charlotte celebrating a Hendrick Motorsports sweep because teammates William Byron, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott all advanced to put four Chevrolet teammates in the third round. But NASCAR ruled that Bowman's car failed postrace inspection and he was disqualified, which knocked Bowman out of the final eight.

Joey Logano of Team Penske advanced instead of Bowman to join teammate and reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney in the round of eight. They represent the only two drivers from Ford.

Toyota has the remaining three spots with Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, as well as regular-season champion Tyler Reddick of Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing.

Larson said the entire Hendrick organization felt the sting of Bowman's disqualification, and now Logano can't be overlooked. Logano is the only two-time Cup champion in the playoff field and a three-time winner at Las Vegas.

“Obviously I'd love to have Alex in the round of eight. Joey is dangerously good,” Larson said. “You can never count him out anywhere. So when he's the guy who gets the benefit of the disqualification, it's like, ‘Dang, he’s a tough competitor.'”

NASCAR earlier this week asked for the expedited discovery motion filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to be denied, alleging the two Cup organizations are trying to “extort” a better deal in the charter system.

23XI and Front Row are the only two organizations out of 15 that refused to sign extensions last month on the new charter agreements. The teams have instead filed a federal antitrust lawsuit, and they are seeking to be recognized as chartered teams as the case winds through the court system.

NASCAR said in its response: “Plaintiffs have filed a meritless suit against NASCAR alleging baseless antitrust claims in order to obtain commercial agreements they previously rejected, and to attempt to extort more favorable contract terms.”

NASCAR says the charter agreements the teams passed on signing are no longer available.

“The deadline for Plaintiffs to sign 2025 Charter Agreements expired weeks ago, and NASCAR has taken steps, consistent with its contractual obligations to other Charter Teams, to plan for a season with only 32 Charters," NASCAR wrote. "Plaintiffs do not need these Charter Agreements to race, and indeed have stated publicly that they will be racing in NASCAR regardless.”

There is a Nov. 4 court date scheduled in Charlotte, North Carolina, for 23XI and Front Row's motion to be recognized as chartered teams in 2025.

Kyle Busch has one month remaining to extend his NASCAR-record winning streak to 20 consecutive seasons with at least one victory.

“Yeah, I mean, time is running out,” Busch said Saturday. “We're getting closer to the end of the year.”

He'd love nothing more than to get it out of the way Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his home track where Busch has only one career victory but was third in last year's playoff race.

“I feel like this place is probably one of our best chances of being able to go out there and get that win this year,” Busch said.

Busch has 63 career Cup Series victories and joins Logano as the only active drivers with a pair of Cup titles.

Busch won in his second race with Richard Childress Racing last year, when he notched three victories and made the playoffs.

But his last win was at Gateway outside St. Louis in June 2023, and his losing streak is at a career-worst 53 races headed into Sunday. He didn’t qualify for the playoffs, and now he is just trying to keep his season winning streak intact.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Kyle Larson poses with the trophy with his daughter Audrey, 6, after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Kyle Larson, center, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)