In the Champions League game against AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund will face an old friend: Christian Pulisic. After difficult years at Chelsea, the American now seems to be in top form again.
Christian Pulisic’s return to Borussia Dortmund kept BVB officials and fans busy for months. Even before the winter break last season, rumors arose that the American could leave FC Chelsea switch back to the black and yellow, the topic came up again in the summer.
No longer happy at Chelsea FC
Now Pulisic is actually returning to Dortmund – albeit in the AC Milan jersey. On Wednesday (from 9 p.m. in the live ticker and in the audio stream at sportschau.de) Borussia expects the second matchday Champions League the Italian prestigious club.
The “Rossoneri” transferred around 22 million euros in transfer fees to London in the summer. Pulisic signed a contract until the end of June 2027 with an option for another season.
The 25-year-old was no longer particularly happy on the Thames. In his last season with the “Blues” He only played 24 league games, he was often just a supplementary player, he was never there for the full distance. The winger only managed one goal and one assist, and at times he was out for weeks due to knee problems. After the new owners’ spending spree around the American Todd Boehly, Chelsea FC no longer planned to work with him.
In the starting eleven at AC Milan
He is now happy again at AC Milan. The American is under coach Stefano Pioli and was in the starting line-up seven times in seven games in the league. Together with left winger Rafael Leao and center forward Olivier Giroud, he forms the offensive department, and he already has three goals and an assist to his credit.
In the table, AC is in second place behind city rivals Inter. At the dress rehearsal for the Dortmund game, the team celebrated a 2-0 win against Lazio at the weekend. Pulisic was responsible for the opening goal.
Already as a 17-year-old in the Bundesliga
In Dortmund they are now hoping that Pulisic won’t be in a scoring mood in the Champions League. After the 2-0 defeat at Paris Saint Germain BVB is already under pressure in the “popular group” F, Milan had a goalless draw at home against Newcastle United.
Dortmund had Pulisic as a teenager from the USA in February 2015 Pennsylvania Classics obligated. He was considered a great promise. He played his first Bundesliga game in January 2016
17-year-old against FC Ingolstadt. This made him the eighth youngest player in the Bundesliga at the time. He scored his first league goal in April 2016. His goal against Hamburger SV made him the youngest foreign and fourth-youngest Bundesliga scorer to date. With his second Bundesliga goal a short time later against VfB Stuttgart, Pulisic became the youngest Bundesliga scorer to date with two goals.
To Chelsea FC for 64 million euros
But times in Dortmund were not always good. In the 2018/19 season he was no longer part of the starting eleven under coach Lucien Favre and lost his place on the wing to Jadon Sancho. In 2019 he moved to Chelsea FC for a transfer fee of 64 million euros, fulfilling a childhood dream. “Dortmund was the perfect start for me, so I will always be grateful to the club. I was young, but this club, with these incredible fans, helped me a lot”he said later.
Not the first reunion with Dortmund
For Pulisic it is not the first reunion with the old club, although the first one did not last long. Last season, Dortmund failed in the round of 16 of the Champions League against the “Blues”. Pulisic was injured in the first leg in Dortmund and injured in the second leg Stamford Bridge He came on as a substitute in the 83rd minute.
So now the return to the Dortmund pitch. Of the current Borussia team, only Marco Reus has played with Pulisic.