The US player pool has never been more prominent in Europe’s top soccer leagues and two of its key players scored on the opening night of the continent’s top competition on Tuesday.
Christian Pulisic scored an early goal to launch AC Milan’s UEFA Champions League campaign.
However, that strike, less than three minutes in, was the last thing he had to smile about as Milan went on to lose 3-1 at home to Liverpool in their opening match in the revamped competition.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Pulisic’s performance this season is as good as his team’s is bad.
Milan have won just one of their five matches this season under new coach Paulo Fonseca. Pulisic, who turned 26 yesterday, has three goals in that same period with two assists.
“It’s another bad result for us, we have to find answers, improve and win matches,” Pulisic said after the loss to Liverpool. “We had the right energy at times, but we couldn’t keep it up consistently ... it’s been a difficult start to the season for us, we’re not happy and we have to change things.”
Photo: AP
Pulisic was not the only American to find the back of the net on Tuesday. And it was a happier night for US teammate Weston McKennie, who scored Juventus’ second during a 3-1 win over PSV Eindhoven in an earlier match.
Three other Americans also featured on the opening day of the revamped Champions League, with Ricardo Pepi, Malik Tillman and Richie Ledezma playing for PSV.
More of their compatriots — such as Borussia Dortmund’s Gio Reyna and injured Juventus forward Tim Weah — could feature later this week or further on in the competition.
Photo: EPA-EFE
With so many players competing at club soccer’s highest level, that can only be good news for new US coach Mauricio Pochettino as the US ramps up for a home World Cup in 2026.
Pulisic was the first American to play in a Champions League final when he won the competition with Chelsea in 2021.
He moved to Milan before the start of last season and had an impressive debut campaign at the Italian team, with 15 goals across all competitions.
That made Pulisic the first midfielder to score more than 10 goals for Milan — excluding penalties — since Kaka in the 2005-2006 season.
Kaka was at the San Siro for Tuesday’s match and gave a short speech to the Rossoneri fans before kickoff. The former Brazil international — and FIFA World Cup winner — spent six seasons at Milan, helping them to their most recent Champions League title in 2007.
Pulisic has made a flying start to the current season, too, with two goals and two assists in Milan’s four opening Serie A matches.
He would need to continue that streak to help Milan reinvigorate their campaign, with another key match in just five days: the city derby against fierce rival — and defending Serie A champions — Inter.
“It’s a huge game for us and we have to give everything, fight and turn things around,” Pulisic said.
Meanwhile, Harry Kane broke Wayne Rooney’s record for the most Champions League goals by an English player when the Bayern Munich striker scored four times against Dinamo Zagreb.
It was one of several records broken as Bayern routed Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 in one of the highest-scoring games in Champions League history — and an emphatic start to European competition for new coach Vincent Kompany.
“Amazing game, a bit of a crazy game for sure,” Kane told broadcaster DAZN. “To score all those goals in the end was a great night.”
Kane took his tally to 33 in the competition by scoring in the 19th, 53rd, 73rd and 78th minutes — three of the goals were penalties — to surpass Rooney’s record of 30.
“After the second [penalty] I didn’t really know what to do with the third one, but thankfully I was able to put it away,” Kane said.
Four other Bayern players scored in the emphatic win and there were two goals for new signing Michael Olise on his Champions League debut after signing from Crystal Palace.
Leon Goretzka’s header in stoppage-time made Bayern the first team to score nine goals in the Champions League era.
It was the highest-scoring game in the competition in terms of total goals since Borussia Dortmund beat Legia Warsaw 8-4 in 2016, UEFA said.
In other games, Aston Villa beat Young Boys 3-0, Real Madrid defeated VfB Stuttgart 3-1 and Sporting downed OSC Lille 2-0.
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