On This Day in 2023, the American Forward Delivered When the Rossoneri Needed Him Most
Christian Pulisic stood in Milan's training ground that July afternoon in 2023, wearing the number 11 shirt—Zlatan Ibrahimović's old number—and felt the weight of expectation settle on his shoulders. The €22 million transfer from Chelsea represented a fresh start, a chance to escape the margins of Stamford Bridge where his playing time had dwindled as the club stockpiled attackers. He'd rejected Lyon, believing Milan was the right move for his career. But fresh starts mean nothing without results.
The early returns exceeded even optimistic projections. On his Serie A debut against Bologna in August, Pulisic scored, becoming the first American to find the net in three of Europe's top five leagues. He scored again against Torino days later and was named Milan's Player of the Month. He scored a last-minute winner against Genoa in October and another goal in December against Frosinone, this one assisted by goalkeeper Mike Maignan's long kick. Five league goals before winter arrived. The adaptation to Italian football, which derails so many imports, seemed effortless.
But there was one glaring absence on his résumé: the Champions League. Five goals and three assists across all competitions, yet nothing in Europe's premier tournament. For a club with seven European Cups in its trophy cabinet, that deficit mattered. And on December 13, as Milan prepared to face Newcastle United at St. James' Park, it mattered more than ever.
The mathematics were brutal. Milan needed a win and a Paris Saint-Germain loss in Germany to advance from Group F. Anything less meant the Europa League or, worse, elimination entirely. Newcastle, despite sitting bottom of the group, controlled their own destiny—a victory would see them through to the knockout stages. Both teams arrived wounded, Newcastle having lost consecutive matches to Everton and Tottenham, Milan still reeling from their own recent defeat. Both squads were decimated by injuries. The stage was set for desperation.
The first half belonged entirely to Newcastle. The Magpies fed off the energy of St. James' Park, pressing Milan deep into their own territory. Miguel Almirón would have scored if not for a brilliant defensive intervention by Fikayo Tomori, Pulisic's former Chelsea teammate now wearing Rossoneri red and black. In the 33rd minute, 17-year-old Lewis Miley teed up Joelinton, who unleashed a rasping drive that flew past Maignan. 1-0 Newcastle. Milan couldn't manage a single shot on goal in the opening 45 minutes. Pulisic, supposedly Milan's best signing of the summer, was invisible. The prospect of a fourth-place finish in the Champions League group—the humiliation of it—loomed larger with each passing minute.
Whatever Stefano Pioli said at halftime transformed his team. Milan emerged rejuvenated, pressing higher, creating chances. Rafael Leão began terrorizing Newcastle's defense down the left flank. In the 59th minute, Leão broke through, slipping past his marker and firing a low cross toward the six-yard box. Tomori, arriving late, mistimed his finish, and the ball ricocheted awkwardly to Olivier Giroud. The French striker, 37 years old and showing none of his age, read the chaos instantly. Instead of forcing a shot, he cushioned the ball sideways to the most dangerous space in the penalty area—where Christian Pulisic stood completely unmarked.
Pulisic didn't hesitate. Milan's first shot of the match arrowed into the net to tie the score at 1-1. The American wheeled away in celebration as the traveling Milan supporters roared. History made in that instant—Pulisic became the first U.S. player to score Champions League goals for three different clubs, adding Milan to his collection alongside Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea. But the goal meant more than personal milestones. It meant survival. It meant European football after Christmas.
The match descended into frantic, end-to-end chaos. Bruno Guimarães tested Maignan with a shot tipped onto the crossbar. Leão, played clean through, struck the post. News filtered through that PSG had equalized in Germany—if the scores held, Milan would still be eliminated despite winning. The pressure became suffocating. Pioli made his move in the 73rd minute, surprisingly withdrawing Pulisic for striker Luka Jović. Given Pulisic's form—two goals and an assist in December—it seemed questionable. But managers earn their reputations in moments like these.
In the 84th minute, Milan broke forward on the counter. Jović and fellow substitute Noah Okafor combined brilliantly, threading passes through Newcastle's exhausted defense. The ball reached Samuel Chukwueze, another Pioli substitute hunting for a miracle. From just inside the box, Chukwueze curled a sublime finish past Martin Dubravka. St. James' Park fell silent. Milan led 2-1. The final whistle triggered mixed emotions. Milan had won, securing European football through the winter. But PSG's draw meant the French club advanced on head-to-head tiebreaker despite both teams finishing on eight points. The consolation prize: Europa League knockout rounds. Not the Champions League Milan craved, but infinitely better than nothing.
For Pulisic, the goal represented validation. He'd delivered in Milan's most critical match of the group stage, scoring when the pressure was greatest against opponents he knew well from his Premier League years. His sixth goal across all competitions solidified his status as Milan's best summer signing. The momentum carried through the remainder of December. On December 30, Pulisic scored against Sassuolo at San Siro, breaking the record for most Serie A goals by an American in a single season—six goals with half the campaign remaining. Days later, he was named Serie A Player of the Month for December with two goals and two assists in league play, becoming the award's first-ever North American recipient.
The Newcastle goal didn't provide the fairytale Champions League run Milan hoped for. It didn't propel them into the knockout rounds against Europe's elite. But it kept them in European competition when elimination loomed. It proved Pulisic could deliver on the biggest stages after years of watching from Chelsea's bench. And it showed Milan that their American import, wearing Ibrahimović's number 11, understood what it meant to play for seven-time European champions.
Sometimes redemption arrives not as the perfect ending you imagined, but as the lifeline that allows you to keep fighting. On a cold December night in Newcastle, Pulisic grabbed that lifeline and reminded everyone—himself included—why Milan had brought him to Italy in the first place.