Usually, the second weekend of October sees Christian Pulisic flanked by compatriots as the Star-Spangled Banner plays. Last year, he was involved in US friendlies against Ecuador and Australia. But this year, with Fifa having folded the October window into September, Pulisic didn’t have the chance.
On Sunday, his prescribed pre-match music was O Generosa, the Serie A anthem, which he observed with a soft smile. Mark Twain’s first visit to Italy left him describing the country as “a vast museum of magnificence and misery,” and it’s a fitting summary of Pulisic’s three-plus years with Milan. The magnificence: 43 goals and 28 assists in 138 appearances.
The misery: just one trophy since he arrived in July 2023, a 2025 Supercoppa Italia held in Saudi Arabia. For years, Pulisic’s club career was a source of chronic frustration in between the reprieve of international duty. Now, after Mauricio Pochettino opened the team’s next era by selecting 13 top prospects (but not Pulisic, recently recovered from injury), his international standing is in a shakier state than ever, more than a decade after he debuted.
In a continuation of a frustratingly familiar theme, Pulisic’s fourth season with Milan hasn’t started smoothly. The lower-leg microfracture he suffered against Belgium at the World Cup this summer has kept him off Ruben Amorim’s teamsheet, only making his first league start in mid-September. He opened Sunday’s visit to Sassuolo in his usual spot as the right half-space winger beneath Gonçalo Ramos.
Pulisic still commands quite a lot of attention. Mid-table Sassuolo were more willing to let the ball find Diego Moreira than Pulisic, with the American’s touches garnering additional defensive bodies. As opponents converged whenever he entered the final third, he often cycled possession to fellow US international Yunus Musah, trailing behind on the right side of midfield.
Pulisic dropped into the defensive half often in search of creating numerical advantages, part of a relatively free-roaming deployment. He led Milan players with 5.3km (3.2 miles) covered in the first half, although his industry failed to create much. He was a key part of the buildup to Milan’s only goal of the day, playing the pass before Luka Modrić’s assist before offering the Croat a helpful decoy run.
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