Christian Pulisic didn’t start in Chelsea’s English Premier League opener against Manchester United, but the American star hasn’t had to wait long for his first start.
Pulisic is in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s UEFA Super Cup clash with Liverpool (3pm ET, TNT/Univision/TUDN USA) as Frank Lampard makes some key changes to the squad that suffered a 4-0 loss to Manchester United on Sunday.
N’Golo Kante, Olivier Giroud and Pulisic are all in the squad to face Liverpool, which is fielding a strong lineup featuring stars Mo Salah, Virgil Van Dijk and Sadio Mane.
Pulisic should have his chance to impress in his first competitive start for Chelsea as he is likely to face off against Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson. Pulisic could also swap flanks with Pedro, which could match him up against Joe Gomez, who is starting at right back for Liverpool in place of regular starter Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Here are the lineups for today’s UEFA Super Cup:
? Main man for Chelsea will be ______#SuperCup pic.twitter.com/PdUWlc4GyZ
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? How #UCL winners Liverpool start tonight in Istanbul. Thoughts? #SuperCup pic.twitter.com/eoZW3K8XZZ
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The SBI staff will be dropping in updates below during the match so feel free to follow along. As always, please share your thoughts on the action in the comments section below.
HALFTIME- Chelsea 1, Liverpool 0. Chelsea withstood a strong Liverpool start and began taking control midway through the first half. That’s also around the time Pulisic started to find the game. He had a rough first 20-25 minutes, but really started to find the game in the final 20 minutes, with his assist, and nearly a goal.
Pulisic had a great goal negated by a correct offside call. He was narrowly offside on the initial ball in, before making the great move to free himself and hit a well-struck shot just inside the near post. Didn’t count, but great finish nonetheless, and it’s not as if Liverpool’s defenders had stopped defending.
GOAL Chelsea! Giroud with the finish, and set up by an EXCELLENT assist from Christian Pulisic, who slipped the pass that caught Giroud onside and in stride. The Frenchman finishes well and Chelsea has the lead. 37th minute.
Pedro hits the crossbar with a chance he created on his own. Still 0-0, 23rd minute. Pulisic hasn’t made an impact yet, though he’s had some possessions only to have Liverpool close him down quickly.
Christian Pulisic starts the match working on the left wing, where he’ll be matched up with Joe Gomez, definitely the more favorable matchup compared to Andrew Robertson on the opposite side.