Christian Pulisic wasted little time in opening his goalscoring account for the 2025-26 season.
Pulisic scored AC Milan’s second goal of the new campaign as the Rossoneri defeated Bari 2-0 in Coppa Italia play on Sunday. The U.S. men’s national team forward played 66 minutes in the match, helping Massimiliano Allegri celebrate a victory in his first match as manager.
Rafael Leao opened the scoring for the Rossoneri after 14 minutes, giving AC Milan a 1-0 advantage that it would take into halftime.
Pulisic added to the lead three minutes into the second half, finishing off a 1-2 with Santiago Gimenez into the bottom-right corner. The 26-year-old played a pass out wide before Gimenez’s return pass was gathered by Pulisic and drilled after a nice turn from point-blank range.
It was Pulisic’s 33rd-career goal for AC Milan in all competitions.
Pulisic was substituted off in the 66th minute, being replaced by fellow USMNT teammate, Yunus Musah. Musah would play the final 20+ minutes as AC Milan closed out a shutout victory at the San Siro.
AC Milan will next face Lecce in the second round of the competition on September 24, but first will open Serie A play on Saturday against Cremonese.
2tone, MWR,
CP looked great but Bari are garbage.
Everyone on the USMNT is a very skilled player. You don’t get to where they are without it. They may not be attractively or obviously skilled but they are. What separates CP from the rest of his USMNT partners at this level is his goal production. HIs absence from the team makes creating and scoring goals seem much harder. Eventually they will get over it.
Makalele was an all time great #6. He defined a particular style of play for the #6 and the USMNT have never had anyone anywhere near him,
From Zidane :
“Why put another layer of gold on the Bentley when you’re losing the entire engine?”. Zidane’s thought Real Madrid were making a mistake by letting Claude go to Chelsea.
CP looks as good or better than ever. Musah looked healthy and sharp too when he came on, played wide right with Modric playing central. Milan already had the game won, so Musah was mostly playing safe, maintaining possession. But a good sign he will get minutes this year.
He looks like he had one of those growth spurt summers. He suddenly has a neck. Maybe he should recommend his “trainer” to Aaronson.
Haha I was thinking the same thing. Finally looking stronger
To be honest he could have had a hat trick. He looked sharp and healthy.
But, should we be concerned that he didn’t get a hat trick in the first half? He’s got to start hitting the corners, or Euro coaches are always going to be looking for the next Portugese or Slovenian guy to take his place.
Had this thought over the weekend – other than Pulsic – does the USMNT have any skill players? Are we just a bunch of Makeleles. . . and no Zindanes?
2tone, MWR,
CP looked great but Bari are garbage.
Everyone on the USMNT is a very skilled player. You don’t get to where they are without it. They may not be attractively or obviously skilled but they are. What separates CP from the rest of his USMNT partners at this level is his goal production. HIs absence from the team makes creating and scoring goals seem much harder. Eventually they will get over it.
Makalele was an all time great #6. He defined a particular style of play for the #6 and the USMNT have never had anyone anywhere near him,
From Zidane :
“Why put another layer of gold on the Bentley when you’re losing the entire engine?”. Zidane’s thought Real Madrid were making a mistake by letting Claude go to Chelsea.