Christian Pulisic is in fine form nine months before a World Cup in his home country.
The United States forward scored twice and was involved in another goal as AC Milan won at previously unbeaten Udinese 3-0 in Serie A on Saturday.
It was the type of performance that American fans hope to see at the 2026 World Cup that the U.S. is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico. Pulisic and U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino recently indicated that they had moved on from some controversy after the top American player skipped the Concacaf Gold Cup.
“Winning trophies and games are more important for me,” Pulisic said. “Goals and assists are always there.”
After his two goals Saturday, Pulisic has 59 while playing for Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and Milan. He surpassed Clint Dempsey (57) and Roy Wegerle (55) for the most by a U.S. men’s national team player while playing in Europe’s top five leagues.
Pulisic gave AC Milan the lead Saturday by scoring off a rebound shortly before halftime.
– Poch defends U.S. players: ‘Criticize me,’ not them
– Pulisic on Poch: Not as much drama as you think
Then, his high pressing allowed Youssouf Fofana to score undisturbed less than a minute into the second half.
Pulisic made it 3-0 after taking a well-disguised pass from Adrien Rabiot and scoring through the goalkeeper’s legs.
Milan’s third win in four matches moved the Rossoneri even with defending champion Napoli and one point behind leader Juventus, whose perfect start ended in a 1-1 draw at Hellas Verona.
Under returning coach Massimiliano Allegri, who was suspended for the Udinese game, it’s already looking like Milan have improved after an eighth-place finish last season that left the seven-time European champion out of continental competition.
Napoli host promoted Pisa on Monday.
Christian Pulisic scored twice in Milan’s win Saturday.
Photo by Ettore Griffoni/EPA/Shutterstock
Meanwhile in Verona, Francisco Conceição put Juventus ahead in the 19th minute after dribbling around defenders then unleashing a shot from the edge of the area.
But Gift Orban converted a handball penalty for Verona before the break.
Verona thought they might have won after Suat Serdar’s goal in the 67th minute, but it was waived off for offside after a VAR review.
Earlier, Bologna erased a one-goal deficit to beat visiting Genoa 2-1 with a penalty kick from Riccardo Orsolini nine minutes into stoppage time.