AC Milan gets timely boost with Fonseca's first win ahead of crucial week

MILAN (AP) — New AC Milan coach Paulo Fonseca got his first Serie A win in style. It couldn’t have come at a better time for the Rossoneri.

A devastating opening half an hour set Milan on its way to a convincing 4-0 win over promoted Venezia on Saturday for its first victory of the season after two draws and a loss.

The result and the manner of the victory are a timely confidence boost ahead of a crucial week. Fonseca's team hosts Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday followed by a Serie A derby match against defending champion Inter Milan.

Also, Bologna remained winless but came from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw against Como.

Juventus drew at Empoli 0-0.

Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez were benched for Milan’s last match but were back in the starting lineup and the pair combined to score the opener after just 90 seconds.

Hernandez won the ball in midfield and played it to Leao who gave it back to him with a delicious backheeled flick on the half turn. That sent the France international down the left and he squeezed his shot past Jesse Joronen at the near post.

Milan doubled its lead in the 16th minute when Youssouf Fofana headed in a Christian Pulisic corner, and the United States international got on the scoresheet himself in the 25th by converting a penalty after Tammy Abraham was tripped by Joronen.

The Rossoneri were awarded another penalty less than three minutes later after the video assistant referee spotted Venezia defender Joël Schingtienn trodding on Leao’s foot.

This time Abraham stepped up to net his first goal for Milan since joining from Roma last month.

It was the first time Milan scored four times in the first half hour of a Serie A match since 1958.

Francesco Zampano thought he pulled one back for Venezia but it was ruled out and Venezia midfielder Hans Nicolussi Caviglia was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Ruben Loftus-Cheek and sent off.

Bologna’s preparations for its Champions League debut are not going well though it managed to spoil Como’s first Serie A home match in 21 years.

Bologna, which hosts Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday, has just three points from its opening four matches. Its only other appearance in Europe’s top competition was in 1964 in the preliminary round of the old European Cup.

Como made a great start in the fifth minute when Patrick Cutrone attempted to roll the ball across the six-yard box but it took a huge deflection off Bologna defender Nicolò Casale for an own goal.

Bologna improved after the break but found itself further behind when Cutrone raced onto a through ball and cut inside past a defender and fired into the far bottom corner.

Tommaso Pobega hit the post for Bologna, which finally pulled one back in the 76th through substitute Santiago Castro.

Another substitute helped the visitors snatch a point when Samuel Iling-Junior curled a fine strike into the top left corner in stoppage time.

Juventus, and more surprisingly Empoli, are among six unbeaten sides.

Empoli held Monza and Bologna to draws either side of a shock 2-1 win at Roma. Juventus' perfect start to the season was ruined by Roma in a goalless draw before the international break.

On Saturday, there were few clearcut chances in Empoli although home goalkeeper Devis Vásquez made spectacular saves to fingertip out a Federico Gatti header and deny Dusan Vlahovic in a one on one with the Juventus forward.

Empoli had a good opportunity in the 73rd minute following an Alberto Grassi one-two with Pietro Pellegri but the finish was straight at Mattia Perin.

The host could have won it right at the death but Gatti flew in with a great sliding block to keep out Emanuel Gyasi's close-range effort.

Juventus hosts PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday.

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

AC Milan's Tammy Abraham, center, celebrates after he scored during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Venezia at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

AC Milan's Matteo Gabbia, left, celebrates with teammate Christian Pulisic after scoring in a Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Venezia at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Spada/LaPresse via AP)

AC Milan's Theo Hernandez, left, celebrates after he scored with Rafael Leaoduring the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Venezia at the San Siro stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

AC Milan's head coach Paulo Fonseca gives instructions during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Venezia at the San Siro stadium, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

AC Milan's Christian Pulisic celebrates after scoring in a Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Venezia at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Spada/LaPresse via AP)

Juventus Kenan Yildiz, right, fights for the ball with Empoli's Saba Goglichidze, during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Empoli and Juventus at the Carlo Castellani Stadium in Empoli, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Marco Bucco/LaPresse via AP)

Juventus' Andrea Cambiaso, right, jumps past Empoli's Liam Henderson during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Empoli and Juventus at the Carlo Castellani Stadium in Empoli, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Marco Bucco/LaPresse via AP)

Juventus Dusan Vlahovic, top, is tackled by Empoli's Ardian Ismajli during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Empoli and Juventus at the Carlo Castellani Stadium in Empoli, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Marco Bucco/LaPresse via AP)

Como 1907's Patrick Cutrone celebrates after Bologna's Nicolo Casale scored an own goal, during the Serie A soccer match between Como and Bologna at the Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium in Como, Italy, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Antonio Saia/LaPresse via AP)

Como's Patrick Cutrone reacts during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Como and Bologna at the Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium in Como, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Antonio Saia/LaPresse via AP)

Como's head coach Cesc Fabregas gives instructions during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Como and Bologna at the Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium in Como, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Antonio Saia/LaPresse via AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bob Weir, the guitarist and singer who as an essential member of the Grateful Dead helped found the sound of the San Francisco counterculture of the 1960s and kept it alive through decades of tours and marathon jams, has died. He was 78.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir,” a statement on his Instagram page posted Saturday said. “He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”

Weir joined the Grateful Dead — originally the Warlocks — in 1965 in San Francisco at just 17 years old. He would spend the next 30 years playing rhythm guitar on virtually nonstop tours alongside fellow singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995.

“Longevity was never a major concern of ours,” Weir said when the Dead got the Grammys’ MusiCares Person of the Year honor last year. “Spreading joy through the music was all we ever really had in mind, and we got plenty of that done.”

Weir wrote or co-wrote and sang lead vocals on Dead classics including “Sugar Magnolia,” “One More Saturday Night” and “Mexicali Blues.”

After Garcia’s death, Weir would be the Dead's most recognizable face. In the decades since, he kept playing with other projects that kept alive the band's music and legendary fan base, including Ratdog, The Other Ones, and Dead & Company.

Weir’s death leaves drummer Bill Kreutzmann as the only surviving original member. Founding bassist Phil Lesh died in 2024. The band's other drummer, Mickey Hart, practically an original member since joining in 1967, is also alive at 82. The fifth founding member, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, died in 1973.

Dead & Company, featuring former members and guitarist and singer John Mayer, played a series of concerts for the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary in July at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, drawing some 60,000 fans a day for three days.

Born Robert Hall Parber in San Francisco in 1947, Weir would take on the last name of the adoptive parents who raised him in nearby Atherton.

He had dyslexia that went undiagnosed at the time, struggled in school as a child and was kicked out of several institutions. At a Colorado boarding school for boys with behavioral problems, he met his frequent lyricist-collaborator John Perry Barlow.

Weir began playing guitar at age 13 and a few years later met and latched on to Garcia, five years his senior, when he heard him playing banjo in Palo Alto, California.

Weir became the Dead's youngest member and looked like a fresh-faced high-schooler in its early years. He was generally less shaggy than the rest of the band, but he had a long beard like Garcia’s in later years.

The band made its name and forged its identity at the LSD-fueled Acid Tests thrown in San Francisco in the mid-1960s by writer Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters.

Their music — called acid rock at its psychedelic inception — incorporated elements of blues, jazz and country in long improvisational jams at concerts.

The band went on to make classic albums including “American Beauty” and “Workingman's Dead,” but the Dead would always be primarily known as a live sensation.

“For over sixty years, Bobby took to the road,” the statement on his Instagram page said. It added that Weir will “forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music.”

Weir took take a backseat to Garcia, whose face was as much an avatar of the band as its legendary skull logo. At times he would be called “The Other One,” the name of an early song he wrote and the title of a 2014 documentary about him.

“Bob Weir wasn’t The Other One, he was That Guy,” TV personality and devoted Dead fan Andy Cohen said on Instagram on Saturday night. “He was impossibly beautiful and wildly fiery, intense and passionate.”

Others paying tribute included the Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, who posted “God Bless Bob Weir” on the social platform X.

In New York, the Empire State Building was lit up in tie-dye colors in his honor.

The band survived long past the hippie moment of its birth, with its ultra-devoted fans known as Deadheads often following them on tours that persisted despite decades of shifting music and culture.

Ubiquitous bumper stickers and T-shirts showed dancing, colored bears, another symbol of the band, and signature phrases like “ain't no time to hate” and “not all who wander are lost.”

The Dead won few Grammys — they were always a little too esoteric — getting only a lifetime achievement award in 2007 and the best music film award in 2018, along with the 2025 MusiCares honor.

Just as rare were hit pop singles. “Touch of Grey,” which brought a big surge in the aging band's popularity in 1987, was their only Billboard Top 10 hit.

But in 2024 they set a record for all artists with their 59th album in Billboard's Top 40. Forty-one of those came since 2012, thanks to the popularity of a series of archival albums compiled by David Lemieux.

Weir also made solo albums, including 1972's “Ace,” 1978's “Heaven Help The Fool” and 2016's “Blue Mountain.”

He is survived by his wife, Natascha, and daughters Monet and Chloe.

FILE - Bob Weir plays guitar with his band The Dead, formerly the Grateful Dead, at the Forum in the Inglewood section of Los Angeles, Calif. on Saturday May 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel,File)

FILE - This undated file photo shows members of the Grateful Dead band, from left to right, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, Brent Mydland, Bill Kreutzmann, and Bob Weir. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - Kennedy Center Honors recipients from left; filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary American rock band the Grateful Dead band members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann Bob Weir and blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Bonnie Raitt, applaud at at the 2024 Kennedy Center Honors reception in the East Room of the White House, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta,File)

FILE - Bob Weir arrives at Willie Nelson 90, celebrating the singer's 90th birthday on Saturday, April 29, 2023, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. (Photo by Allison Dinner/Invision/AP,File)

FILE - Bob Weir of Dead & Company performs at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival on Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Manchester, Tenn. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP,File)