U.S. men’s national team star Christian Pulisic scored again Tuesday in AC Milan’s 3-2 win over Slovan Bratislava in the UEFA Champions Leaguehelping to ensure they would escape a very close game with all three points (you can watch all the Champions League action live on Paramount+).
Milan got off to a dominant start and got their reward in the 21st minute when Pulisic broke the deadlock. Tammy Abraham received the ball on the halfway line and saw Pulisic running right in front of him, playing a ball that the American had no trouble reaching. Pulisic then outran the defender marking him and ran almost the length of Slovan’s half, making his way into the penalty area before scoring from an angle and placing the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal.
Watch the strike below.
Slovan equalized just three minutes later thanks to an impressive counterattack by Tigran Barseghyan. The rapid back-and-forth of the first half set the stage for a dramatic second half, in which Milan took a 3-1 lead in the 71st minute thanks to goals from Rafael Leao and Abraham. Slovan, however, pulled one back with a goal from Nino Marcelli in the 88th minute, although the home team’s momentum was interrupted when Marko Tolic received a second yellow card just two minutes later.
The victory is good news for Milan, who will likely remain in the top 24 and remain in a strong position to advance to the next round of the competition. Tuesday’s victory against Slovan is their third consecutive victory in the Champions League, marking only the second time since the 2007-08 season that Milan has gone on a winning streak in Europe. Leao will also take positives from the game, responding to a poor start to the season with two goals and two assists in his last four games for the club.
Pulisic, naturally, was among the standout players and now has three goals in the Champions League this season, already reaching the best stat of his career in just five games of the campaign. He also equaled a decades-long record for the Americans in the Champions League, matching DaMarcus Beasley’s three-goal season with PSV during the 2004-05 season, a streak that included a fourth goal in their qualifying campaign.
The American has easily been Milan’s most consistent contributor in front of goal this season, scoring eight goals and four assists in 18 games in all competitions this season. He is on pace to surpass last season’s 16 goals and 10 assists, which marked the best club campaign of his career. His impressive form has carried over to the national team, scoring two goals and two assists in his last five games for the USMNT.
However, the match was more edgy than necessary for the visitors, which has been a trend throughout a season of inconsistency for Milan. They won by just one goal despite outshooting Slovan 15 to six, another sign that there is room for improvement on defense. They have already conceded eight goals in five Champions League games this season and 14 in 12 Serie A games, which really requires their attackers to get them out of trouble more often than not.
The good news for coach Paulo Fonseca is that his team has the ability to do just that, scoring three goals in three consecutive Champions League or European Cup games for the first time since 1989. Milan have scored in all of them. games minus two this season, thanks in part to the work of individual players like Pulisic, who will function even on the team’s off days. Their porous defence, however, means there are still questions over whether Milan’s tendencies of inconsistency are behind them or not, even as they extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to five games.
