Christian Pulisic is still five years or so too young to serve in the US Senate, but no such age restriction applies in the Italian sports lexicon. As Milan prepared to face Newcastle in a do-or-die Champions League group game last month, Gazzetta dello Sport named him and Olivier Giroud as two players his team-mates would look to for leadership. “Milan must rely on experience,” wrote journalist Marco Passotto, “it must rely on the senators.”
Pulisic, 25, is 12 years younger than Giroud. Yet he made 53 appearances in the Champions League; Just 13 fewer than the Frenchman, but 18 more than the Newcastle players.
This is one of the reasons why Milan wants Pulisic. When the club returned to the Champions League in 2021 after a seven-year absence, it did so with a team made up of European recruits. More than half of Milan’s starting 11 against Liverpool had never played a Champions League match before. Nobody betters Simon Kjær’s seven appearances in the competition.
For Milan fans that night at Anfield was like turning back time. Their team was leading 2-1 at halftime, and images of one of the fans crying in the stands went viral.
For generations, Milan had defined itself by international success; their seven Champions League/European Cup wins are second only to Real Madrid, and their five UEFA Super Cups remain the most won by any team. Juventus are Italy’s most successful club domestically, but the Rossoneri were the conquerors of the continent.
Not anymore. This 2-1 win turned into a 3-2 defeat and Milan finished last in their group. The young staff lacked the knowledge to advance in this new phase. It was no coincidence that Giroud scored, or nearly scored half of them, despite reaching the semi-finals a season later.
He was at the center of action again this month as Milan came from 1-0 down to beat Newcastle. It looked like the beginning of a panicked goalmouth scramble when Rafael Leão pulled the ball back into a crowded penalty area and Fikayo Tomori attempted a shot with the outside of his boot. But the ball went to Giroud, who made a calm first-time pass for Pulisic to convert.
Milan’s two “senators” did their job when the team needed it. Samuel Chukwueze came off the bench and scored the winning goal in the 84th minute, but it was Pulisic’s goal that changed the course of the match in which the Italians had previously risked defeat.
This was a pivotal moment in Milan’s season. Manager Stefano Pioli described the Newcastle match as a “turning point”. Ultimately, a win was enough to take them into the Europa League; The draw between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund prevented them from advancing to the knockout rounds of the Champions League. But this was much better than leaving Europe altogether.
There were suggestions before kick-off that Pioli’s job was at risk. Frustration was mounting over the club’s inconsistent form, with five defeats and just three wins in the previous 10 matches.
There were extenuating circumstances. Milan are struggling with a major injury crisis; Five of their top six centre-backs are now out of action, with Leão only returning to Newcastle a month later with a hamstring problem. However, neighbors Inter’s withdrawal from the top of the table has increased tensions. Every Milan team has won Serie A 19 times, meaning the next winner will be the first team to pin a second gold star on their club crest.
Pulisic’s performance throughout this difficult stretch was a rare bright note. He started the season playing on the right wing, but moved to the left in Leão’s absence. He delivered consistently at both ends.
Pulisic is second on the team with six goals and second in assists with four. When you examine performance data, you encounter a similar pattern; While it’s not at the top of any category, it’s close to it in most. Pulisic recorded the second most accurate shots, the third most successful dribbles and the fourth most important passes among Milan players. According to Serie A’s player tracking, he covered more distance during the sprint than all of his teammates except Tijjani Reijnders and American Yunus Musah (a different category based on total distance covered).
More interesting than the numbers are the conversations. Pioli recently held a tactical seminar for selected journalists at Milan’s training ground. According to veteran reporter and commentator Paolo Condò, the manager talked about shaping his team to encourage opposing goalkeepers to play the ball on the wing occupied by Pulisic, knowing that he would make a more diligent comeback from Leão.
Pulisic’s work rate is admirable, but the goals he scores will make him unforgettable at Milan, with his best so far coming against Frosinone this month. Milan were one goal ahead but were struggling against rivals who had suffered a few nosebleeds since returning to Serie A. Pioli, whose morale was low after losing to Dortmund in the middle of the week, took the last place in the Champions League group.
Pulisic had everything to do when goalkeeper Mike Maignan sent a long ball over the Frosinone defence. Even after controlling the ball with one touch, there were two defenders behind him and he did not have the pace to escape them. Pulisic’s composure in stopping the first pair and protecting the ball from the late third was impressive. His no-look chip to put the ball into the net, knowing that some lift was required to pass the ball over three opponents standing between him and the goal, was superb.
Walter Sabatini, the famous Italian sporting director who has worked at Roma, Lazio and Inter and who recently took charge of Salernitana, was fascinated. “This move alone is worth three 4-0 wins,” he said. “It was unreal, it was so beautiful, I want to call it deceptive [how he tricked the defenders].”
In a summer where Milan has overhauled its roster and added not only Pulisic but also Reijnders, Musah, Samuel Chukwueze, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Noah Okafor and Marco Pellegrino for a total cost of more than $110 million, it would not be an exaggeration to say that. The first of these was the most impressive. Without Pulisic’s goals and assists, Leão’s absence would have been much more painful.
Despite all the criticism leveled at Pioli by some of the fan base, Milan still sit third in Serie A; They are nine points behind Inter but also five points ahead of fifth place. The manager has repeatedly insisted a top-four finish is the primary target but said he wants to do “more”. A strong run in the Europa League could offer a path to further success this season.
There are other goals for Pulisic to pursue individually. “I want to be more open,” he told Gazzetta in an interview earlier this season, “more outgoing, maybe I can speak Italian. Italy will help me.”
Their limited interactions with the press so far have all been in English, but these are early days. Between caring for injured teammates and having to take on a leadership role on a new team in a new country, Milan’s 25-year-old senator had a lot on his hands.