Christian Pulisic delivered one of his more memorable performances for AC Milan on Saturday.
Pulisic scored twice and added one assist in the Rossoneri’s 3-0 Serie A victory over Udinese. The U.S. men’s national team star forward earned Man of the Match honors as AC Milan jumped up to third place in the league standings.
Pulisic opened the scoring in the 39th minute, slotting home a rebound in the box for his third goal of the season in all competitions.
The 26-year-old added to his busy day in the 46th minute, earning an assist on Youssouf Fofana’s goal. Pulisic was hauled down in the Udinese box while the loose ball rolled to Fofana, who made zero mistake with his finish.
Pulisic added his third and final goal contribution of the day, finishing off Adrien Rabiot’s reverse pass into the bottom corner. Razvan Sava tried to repel Pulisic’s effort, but couldn’t as the in-form forward cleverly finished off his brace.
He was substituted off in the 63rd minute as Massimiliano Allegri’s squad held on for a crucial early-season three points.
Pulisic won eight duels, drew three fouls, and registered three shots on target in his performance. He became the first AC Milan player to have three goal involvements in a Serie A match since Olivier Giroud and Brahim Diaz did so against Sampdoria in May 2023.
AC Milan will next face off with Lecce on Tuesday in Coppa Italia play.
CP could do worse than model himself after Modric.
Rico po,
“intelligently protecting a key player in a crowded schedule fresh off international duty” is just another way of saying you are resting him properly.
You can do this with CP because he’s so versatile.
Milan have brought new players. Hopefully they strengthen the mix and Pulisic won’t have to play as many minutes.
Nah more minutes the better. But I do agree he won’t be a 90 minute player every game.
Reyna riding the bench. Tillman with the goal for Leverkusen.
Reyna got about 15 minutes.
Tillman played a little deeper today.
Balogun unused sub. I think he is going to have a fight on his hands. Ansu Fati scored 2, Biereth 1 and the 20 year old Ilenikhena scored 1 today.
Maybe there won’t be a question now if Pulisic starts or not.
Gary,
Or maybe this is what happens when you rest him properly.
I think much of the worry is overblown… is merely Allegri inteligently protecting a key player in a crowded schedule fresh off of international duty.
Watching the game, this definitely looked like a new Milan team. They were so compact on defense compared to so much disorganization the past couple years, and were playing free flowing soccer on the attack. The movement and passing was amazing today. Modric at 40 and still playing at such a high level! He was deeper than the center backs at times, then all of a sudden popping up high in offense. Him and Pulisic allowed in free flowing rolls definitely paying off.
thanks for the eyes on update. what a joy to play with Modric it must be, one of the best players I’ve ever seen
CP could do worse than model himself after Modric.
Night and day from last season. Modric special sauce is huge.. Allegri has defence way more organized, Rabiot excellent protecting backline, connecting. Pulisic given lots of freedom and utilized it- was everywhere yesterday.
Hearing a lot of analysts saying Pulisic isnt good as a second striker well he looked pretty good today. If you play a second striker right meaning running off of a target striker dropping in the hole to pick up and turn at a defense that screams Pulisics abilities all day.