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United States forward Christian Pulisic returned to the AC Milan side today, who beat relegation-threatened Lecce 1-0. Niclas Füllkrug scored his first goal in nearly a year to give his team what could be a crucial win.

Milan cut the gap to Serie A leader Inter Milan back to three points. Inter, which had also struggled against Lecce midweek, won 1-0 at Udinese on Saturday.

Füllkrug joined Milan on loan from West Ham on the opening day of the winter transfer window in Italy.

The 32-year-old Germany forward hadn't scored since April 5, against Bournemouth in the Premier League.

He ended that drought in the 76th minute, less than three minutes after being substituted on for Pulisic. Alexis Saelemaekers ran onto a long pass from Matteo Gabbia down the right and then put in a cross for Füllkrug to head into the bottom far corner.

Pulisic had had two of Milan's best chances before coming off but the US international was denied by two great saves from Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone, who also pulled off a number of other fine stops.

Lecce slipped into the relegation zone, below Fiorentina on goal difference.