Maybe it was the fact that he was wearing American colors today (red, white and blue), but Christian Pulisic finally got on the score sheet, for the 20-21 season today.
Yet to score a goal or register an assist on the young season, Pulisic found the back of the net, in 90′ coming off the bench at FC Krasnodar today. Chelsea ran away with it on the road, 4-0, taking control of their UCL grouping, as they now sit atop the standings, and have a +4 goal differential on the rest of the group.
Christian Pulisic’s sensational goal. https://t.co/MvOXuY1Xvm
— ?? (@Arrizabalager) October 28, 2020
In addition to scoring, he also won a penalty, and this match marked the first time that we’ve really seen the whole young, talented, high-priced Chelsea attack playing together and clicking. The whole quartet of attacking players acquired since the beginning of 2019 contributed here.
Kai Havertz had an assist, Timo Werner had a goal, an assist and won a penalty. Rounding out the foursome, Hakim Ziyech scored his first goal in a Chelsea shirt. The fourth goal came from Callum Hudson-Odoi, in a rout where Chelsea were wearing their Crystal Palace style kit.
Although he only played substitute minutes, tonight in Russia was a big deal for Pulisic.
You can see the footage of his goal above. Pulisic has made three starts on the season thus far, making an impact but not getting on the score sheet in a 3-3 draw against Southampton.
In the goalless draw at Manchester United over the weekend, he was essentially bottled by Scott McTominay.
Today was a different story, and maybe this is a glimpse of the Chelsea that Roman Abramovich believed he paid for this summer.
“We’re very happy, four goals scored and none conceded,” said manager Frank Lampard.
“It was a difficult match, we were better than them in the first half. We had to take a bit of pressure early in the second but I liked lots of things about the way we played.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.