Christian Pulisic needed just three minutes on Tuesday night to add to his growing goal total this season.
Pulisic came off the bench to score AC Milan’s third goal in a 3-0 Coppa Italia home victory over Lecce. The U.S. men’s national team forward now has five goals and two assists for the Rossoneri across all competitions.
Santi Gimenez opened the scoring for Massimiliano Allegri’s squad one minute after Lecce were reduced to 10-men following Jamil Siebert’s red card. Christopher Nkunku doubled the hosts lead early in the second half, celebrating his first goal for the club.
Pulisic, who entered the match in the 61st minute, added his name to the scoresheet only three minutes. Youssouf Fofana’s cross from the right wing was volleyed home by an onrushing Pulisic into the top-left corner, giving the Rossoneri faithful a third goal to cheer about.
The tally marked Pulisic’s 38th-career goal for the Rossoneri, moving him tied for 43rd place on the club’s all-time goalscoring ranks.
AC Milan would hang on to book its place into the Round of 16 while also extending its unbeaten run to four matches in all competitions.
Pulisic and his teammates will now prepare for a highly-anticipated Serie A clash with reigning champions and first place Napoli on Sunday. A victory for Allegri’s men could see them finish Matchweek 5 in the top spot.
If we want to do anything in the WC next year we need to have 5-6 players consistently playing at Christian’s level, which we won’t. So any idea that we “should” do something big is completely emotionally driven and not grounded in the reality of what our team talent is.
This game was extremely one sided, like REALLY bad defensively…..with a full side, Lecce had absolutely no answer for Milan’s attack. who could have EASILY scored 8 goals in the first half (they hit the post like 3-4 times!!!). Then of course things went from bad to worst with a “last-man” red card infraction. I had to look up Unione Sportiva Lecce as I thought they were a division 2 team lol
Bizzy,
“This game was extremely one sided, like REALLY bad defensively…..with a full side, Lecce had absolutely no answer for Milan’s attack.”
That statement is spot on, and indicative of why Pulisic’s performances, and corresponding stats, at Milan, including his goal in this game, are WAY OVERRATED.
That is why when people say Pulisic is world class, top 50 player in the world, etc., etc., it is SO OFF BASE.
Before going further, it is important to say, it is his life and career, so he gets to make the decisions that are best for him, and he seems really happy at Milan. Having said that, with respect to his performances and stats, it is important to give context…
In the 23-24 season, for Serie A ( based on the final standings, and for games against the top 6 teams that are NOT Milan ), Champions League, and Europa League games, Pulisic had 4 goals and 2 assists. Take a minute, and read that again…4 goals and 2 assists. Which means the bulk of his stats were against the minnows of Serie A. Yawn.
In the 24-25 season, for Serie A ( based on the final standings, and for games against the top 6 teams that are NOT Milan ) and Champions League games, Pulisic had 6 goals and 2 assists. Take a minute, and read that again…6 goals and 2 assists. Which means the bulk of his stats were AGAIN against the minnows of Serie A. Yawn, again.
In this current season, and in all club competitions, he has 5 goals and 1 assist.
Those goal contributions have come against Bari, who is in 19th place of Serie B…yeah, Serie B…that is not a typo.
Also, Lecce, who is in last place of Serie A.
And lastly, Udinese, who is in 9th place of Serie A.
Again, Pulisic is on fire!…against the minnows of Italy. Yawn.
This coming weekend, Milan hosts Napoli. Since he is in “this great run of form,” it will be interesting to see how he plays. Recent history suggests he will not do much against a quality Serie A opponent.
What is the point of all of the information above? With context, it is crystal clear that our supposedly “best player” is really not world class.
Why does that matter? Because, it is interesting that most American soccer fans…and make no mistake about it, I am an American soccer fan, but not like most American soccer fans…say Pulisic is world class. Truth is, he is above average, at best.
If he keeps this up all season he will be in the top 30 for all time Milan goal scorers by the end of the season after 3 seasons.
If you look at that list most of the guys played about seasons (125-175 matches). Probably just a sign if you have a few good seasons at ACM somebody will make a bigger offer. I think this move has worked out a lot better than people expected.