USA captain Christian Pulisic was forced off 35 minutes in to Milan’s late defeat at Atalanta in Serie A on Friday after falling to the turf and grimacing while holding his left leg.
Attacker Pulisic, who has been directly involved in 14 goals in 19 club appearances this season, was competing for the ball against Atalanta’s Mario Pasalic when he slipped and appeared to catch his leg in the turf, with Sky reporting he had suffered a hardening of his calf, according to Football Italia.
“The loss of Christian can be a bit gut-wrenching for Milan because he’s been the most in-form player this season in a Milan jersey,” pundit Ian Joy told CBS Sports Golazo.
“It looked a very innocuous fall: he slipped and then his heel got stuck. Look at the heel; the studs sort of stick inside the grass and as he’s gone down, he’s got his full body weight on it. He didn’t look like he wanted to continue, so it must have been something serious to have wanted to go off.”
Cause for concern for Christian Pulisic and Milan after their star man is forced off due to a lower body injury 😳 pic.twitter.com/tPVmXKylmG
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) December 6, 2024
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Christian Pulisic stats: Injury history
The 26-year-old has started 11 of Milan’s 13 league games and all five of their Champions League matches this season, beginning the campaign with five goals and three assists in eight Serie A fixtures.
Pulisic scored against Liverpool, Club Brugge and Slovan Bratislava in Europe, with midfielders Tijjani Reijnders and Youssouf Fofana the only players to feature for more minutes under new manager Paulo Fonseca.
Under new USA manager Mauricio Pochettino, Pulisic has produced two goals and two assists across two games against Jamaica and one at home to Panama.
He has been almost injury-free since joining Milan, missing two games through injury during his debut season in 2023/24.
Full-time in Bergamo.#AtalantaMilan #SempreMilan pic.twitter.com/mJWd6bWcoR
— AC Milan (@acmilan) December 6, 2024
A knee problem ruled Pulisic out of eight league games for former club Chelsea the previous season, and he missed 12 matches in all competitions through an ankle injury in 2021/22.
A succession of issues including a two-month hamstring injury kept Pulisic out of 16 games in 2020/21 – one fewer than he missed for club and country in 2019/20.
Atalanta vs Milan
After a patchy start under Fonseca, Milan started their foreboding fixture at Atalanta on a seven-game unbeaten run, including three consecutive wins.
Atalanta, though, were on a seven-match winning run and took a 12th-minute lead through Charles De Ketelaere before Alvaro Morata equalised nine minutes later.
Former England midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek replaced Pulisic for a Milan side beaten by Ademola Lookman’s 87th-minute winner in Atalanta’s 2-1 victory.
“I would have loved to have seen [Pulisic] continue, Milan fans also,” said Joy. “Hopefully it’s a speedy recovery for him and not too serious.”
