Christian Pulisic is really embracing la dolce vita.
The U.S. men’s national team star opened the scoring for AC Milan in a 2-0 win over Lazio, capping off a superb performance for himself by striking his side’s opening goal on the half-volley.
After an uneventful first half that was only really punctuated by an injury for Ruben Loftus-Cheek — Yunus Musah entered in the England midfielder’s stead in the 29th minute — Milan began pressing more aggressively, eventually setting the stage for Pulisic to give his side the lead on the hour mark.
With Olivier Giroud occupying multiple defenders amid some slick one-touch passing, Pulisic ghosted in towards the penalty spot to fire Rafael Leão’s clipped cross past Ivan Provedel.
The goal is Pulisic’s third in eight appearances since making a €22 million summer move to Serie A. It also follows up the Hershey, Pa. native’s assist mid-week, when Pulisic set Loftus-Cheek up for Milan’s final goal in a 3-1 victory over Cagliari.
14 minutes after opening the scoring on Saturday, Pulisic set Musah up for what would have been a magical second. Unfortunately for the Rossoneri, Musah’s spinning volley was denied brilliantly by Ivan Provedel. Noah Okafor would end up tacking on a late second to seal the win for Stefano Pioli’s side.
The victory moved Milan top of the Serie A table for a few hours, only for city rivals Inter to vault back ahead with a rout of Salernitana later on Saturday.
“From the first half we put a lot of pressure on them, we pushed hard and the goal was only a matter of time,” Pulisic told DAZN after the match. “We finally scored it, from then on it was a great performance.”
Pulisic added that Milan must “take it one game at a time” to have a shot at staying atop the table by season’s end. “If we do this we have a good chance of winning. Today went well, we’re already thinking about the next game.”
Watch Pulisic’s strike for Milan in Lazio win
🇺🇸 CHRISTIAN PULISIC IS AT IT AGAIN! 🇺🇸
The #USMNT winger volleys home to send the San Siro into a frenzy! pic.twitter.com/5c7KfC7PeV
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) September 30, 2023
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