Christian Pulisic didn’t start Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League match against Real Madrid on Tuesday. But my goodness did he finish it.
Real Madrid looked unfazed as it descended into the bubbling cauldron of BVB’s Signal Iduna Park, taking a 2-1 lead late into the second half. Pulisic, the King of America, came on with about 20 minutes to go and didn’t waste much time in lassoing the game and pulling it back into Dortmund’s favor.
In the 87th minute, Pulisic took possession on Real Madrid’s left flank and proceeded to turn Danilo (who is quick) into a traffic cone before putting in a cross that ended up in Andre Schurrle’s pocket. The German did the rest, roofing this thing to tie the game and secure a point in the CL standings.
Wonderful work from Pulisic to set up Schurrle’s unstoppable equalizer for Dortmund. #UCLonFOX //t.co/JYkieVRcAS
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) September 27, 2016
Pulisic’s 20 minutes: short and mildly sweet.
Pulisic only had time enough to go 4-7 passing, but note this: in precious few touches, Pulisic managed three take-ons and completed two of them. One was the egregious crime he committed on Danilo to set up the game-tying goal.
Jurgen Klinsmann can say whatever he wants about the 18-year-old Pulisic being ready or not for the international stage, but how many Americans of any age can you drop into a rolling, pitching tanker of a stadium of 80,000 70 minutes into a Champions League match against Real Madrid and watch them unflinchingly go heads up on Danilo and Sergio Ramos?
None, America. Your answer is none. Now here’s a video of Pulisic scoring last week.