Pulisic goal helps AC Milan get Champions League win

SOCCER

United States forward Christian Pulisic scored directly from a corner kick – and admitted it was an accident – as AC Milan beat Brugge 3-1 to end its wait for a Champions League win.

Pulisic surprised everyone when he curled in a kick from the left corner flag in the 34th minute to put Milan up 1-0.

“Today it was a bit of luck but it’s still worth a goal. I’m very happy,” a laughing Pulisic said in Italian. “I didn’t try to do that but it was a good cross, I’ll say that, and after a nice, nice goal, but I wasn’t trying that.”

• Vinicius Junior scored a hat trick as Real Madrid turned boos into cheers with a 5-2 win over Borussia Dortmund.

Madrid was 2-0 down at halftime in a rematch of last season’s final.

• Paris Saint-Germain settled for a 1-1 draw against Dutch club PSV Eindhoven.

• Aston Villa became the first team with three wins in the new Champions League format, beating Bologna, 2-0.

• Arsenal needed an own goal to get past Shakhtar Donetsk, 1-0, and lost left back Riccardo Calafiori to an apparent knee injury.

BASKETBALL

NBA: Paul George’s debut with the Philadelphia 76ers is on hold, and Joel Embiid is again set to miss time because of an injury.

Embiid and George will set out Wednesday’s season opener against Milwaukee and could miss additional games.

George, who left the Los Angeles Clippers and signed a four-year, $212 million contract as a free agent this summer, sustained a bone bruise when he hyperextended his left knee during a preseason game.

Embiid did not play during the preseason because of a sore left knee.

The Bucks also will be without one of their key players. All-Star forward Khris Middleton is recovering from offseason surgeries to each of his ankles.

HOCKEY

NHL: Paul Maurice and the Florida Panthers have agreed on a contract extension, the team announced.

Maurice was in the final year of a three-year deal, and it was a certainty that the Panthers planned on keeping him around after he took the team to the Stanley Cup Final in each of his first two seasons, winning the Cup in June.

COLLEGES

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: USC star JuJu Watkins and UConn’s Paige Bueckers headline The Associated Press preseason All-America team, which for the first time includes three sophomores in a clear sign of the young talent in a sport coming off a record year of fan interest.

Watkins and Bueckers were unanimous choices by the 30-member national media panel that selects the AP Top 25 each week. They were joined by Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame, Madison Booker of Texas and Kiki Iriafen of USC. Watkins, Hidalgo and Booker are all second-year players.

TENNIS

SWISS INDOORS: Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune kept alive their slim hopes of reaching the ATP Finals with wins in Basel, Switzerland.

Tsitsipas, ranked No. 11, outlasted Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), while 14th-ranked Rune beat Nicolas Jarry, 6-4, 7-6 (3). The top-eight ranked players qualify for the Finals next month in Turin.

Also Tuesday, sixth-seeded Ben Shelton beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry, 6-3, 6-4.

AUTO RACING

TRUCK SERIES: Former child actor and “Malcom in the Middle” star Frankie Muniz revealed that he’ll be racing in the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 33 F-150 for Reaume Brothers Racing.

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