Christian Pulisic made his return to Signal Iduna Park on Wednesday night in the UEFA Champions League, but it ended up being a quiet performance for the in-form AC Milan attacker.
Pulisic and his Rossoneri teammates were held in check as AC Milan tied Borussia Dortmund 0-0 in their second group stage match of this season’s competition. Pulisic started and played 69 minutes in Stefano Pioli’s squad while Yunus Musah logged 90 minutes in his first UCL start of his career.
Both teams had ample opportunities to find the back of the net, but were unable to do so in a luckluster draw. Pulisic recorded one shot on target, but failed to win any of his five duels and only completed 11 passes in total.
Musah won three of his nine duels in midfield, making one interception and six recoveries. The 20-year-old had made only previous start for AC Milan this season following his permanent move from Valencia this summer.
Fellow U.S. men’s national team teammate Gio Reyna was an unused substitute yet again for Borussia Dortmund. The 20-year-old Reyna is still seeking his first minutes of the new season after missing ample time due to a calf injury suffered in June.
AC Milan travels to Genoa in Serie A action on Saturday in its final match before the October international break while Borussia Dortmund visits Union Berlin in Bundesliga play on the same day.
Musah continues to impress. Interestingly he was move to the 6 to close out the game.
It’s hilarious that every time he’s not on the scoresheet, or has an assist, it’s made into this big thing using buzz words or phrases like “he was held in check” or “quieted” LOL
I was just about to say the same thing. Wow do some fans have a complex or what. A couple of games ago when he didn’t start, it was “Pulisic has been dropped from the lineup”. I figured it was just normal rotation/rest from the beginning. He has started literally every game before and since. It’s nice to see a manager use some common sense with regard to rotation. As far as this game goes, Milan just couldn’t seem to link up well in attack, not sure why. Leao got loose occasionally but couldn’t quite connect, Pulisic seemed less involved but busted back to defend far better, Giroud seemed a little off, they seemed to lack a central attacking presence in midfield. It was fun watching Musah hustle all over the place, he is clearly a work in progress, but man is he going to be good once he figures it out.
Not his best game. But Milan are still alive in Champions league.