When Christian Pulisic scored for Chelsea in extra time tonight it marked the first time in the past 11 seasons that three different Americans scored in Europe’s top five leagues. To quote Al Pacino in The Devil’s Advocate, “we’re coming out baby!”
Pulisic’s tap in during injury time (see video footage below) made sure that Chelsea finished off Leeds United at home and kept all three points in west London. The scoring strike was his first in league play this season and second across all competitions in what has been a very injury plagued term for the 22-year-old left side attacking player.
Is this greatest day ever for American men in European club football? Christian Pulisic finishes of a lightning counter to send Chelsea top of table. This after Gio Reyna scored for Dortmund and Weston McKennie for Juventus. A bona fide American Wave ??? pic.twitter.com/sitw7wsiIN
— roger bennett (@rogbennett) December 5, 2020
The goal capped a comeback in which Chelsea fell behind 0-1, but ultimately ended up winning 3-1. Saturday also saw fellow United States Men’s National Team star Weston McKennie score his first goal with Juventus, thereby becoming the first American international to ever score for the Italian juggernaut.
Completing the Stars and Stripes hat trick was Gio Reyna, who found the back of the goal for Borussia Dortmund today.
Here is Weston McKennie's first Juventus goal. @ESPNpic.twitter.com/CjxmgTAI0p
— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) December 5, 2020
For Pulisic, hopefully, this is the start of getting his 20-21 on track, and perhaps maybe, fully realizing his massive potential. We spoke during the week with television reporter and Chelsea supporter Alison Bender, now with Premier League Astro and TalkSPORT, and formerly of Sky Sports, Real Madrid TV, Chelsea TV and ESPN.
“I see him at Chelsea all the time, he comes across as very happy go lucky, I think he’s a great player,” Bender said of Pulisic.
“Lampard’s always hinted at that he thinks he’s a good player, but not a great player that he’s young, but he can still learn, but I think he’s got great things to bring to this league.”
“He’s really lucky right now to work with that group of players. It’s a really nice balance to the Chelsea team at the moment.”
“With (Timo) Werner, (Hakim) Ziyech, and Tammy Abraham and (Olivier) Giroud, who had four goals the other day, and our midfield, I think he’ll do very well.”
The next chance for Pulisic to continue making a mark comes in midweek, when they’ll face Krasnodar in UEFA Champions League group stage play. The Tuesday night clash will be the group stage finale for the Blues.
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.