Christian Pulisic and Tijjani Reijnders helped AC Milan turn 0-1 down to 2-1 up against Como on Saturday evening. As highlighted by Gazzetta dello Sport, they make up the foundation of the Rossoneri.
Once upon a time, as the pink newspaper begins (see photo below), Milan relied on Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao to seal wins. Now, however, they rely more on Pulisic and Reijnders who certainly have shown their importance this season.
Indeed, it’s no coincidence that Milan just renewed the contract of Reijnders until 2030, while Pulisic is expected to sign a renewal until 2029 very soon. Only the announcement is missing for the American, who has an agreement with the Rossoneri.
Prolific goalscorers
On the equalising goal, both players showed their top quality: Reijnders with a great pass into the box, picking out the run of Pulisic, who managed to find the back of the net with his left foot from a narrow angle.
It was Captain America’s ninth league goal of the season, 15 in all competitions, and he has already equalled his seasonal record. He’s the top scorer of Milan in 2024-25 and behind him, of course, there is Reijnders with 13 goals in all competitions.
The Dutchman made the most of a fantastic pass from Abraham and considering that he had never reached double figures before (goal-wise), this season is incredibly impressive.
Undisputed leaders
Yesterday’s clash was also the first time that Reijnders had both scored and assisted, earning the Serie A man of the match award for the sixth time this season (he was also named that in our ratings). In second, of course, we find Pulisic with three Serie A man of the match awards.
In short, Pulisic and Reijnders have become leaders for this Milan side and it shows with their post-match comments as well. “We make too many individual mistakes and if you’re at Milan, that can’t happen,” Reijnders stated. “Getting into the top four will be very difficult, but we’ll try, the team has a lot of talent,” Pulisic added.
When did Milan rely on Theo Hernandez to win games? I guess when you a reporter you have to have that snake personality and add things like that. Milan mostly relied on Leao and Giroud, not Theo.
Everyone have different opinion but, i hope you all agree that musah musn’t start. To many wasted chance and blunder
Theo has become a liability. He is a disappointment when he should be a leader. We are out of CL because of the red card leaving the team with 10 people and most of the goals suffered came from the side he covers. He should never feature again for what he did and his performance.
Gimenez
Leao-Reijnders-Pulisic
is a clear, undisputed front we have to use. if we use 4-2-3-1. if we switch to 4-3-3/4-1-4-1, then Fofana either way is a must. Musah can’t be starting games, until he works on decision-making, passes and shots…
again, I don’t see him ever becoming an attacker, he just doesn’t have any talent for that and our coach needs to give him a reality check or the door…
Bondo is also good as CDM, but we will need an upgrade in the summer. Varela from Porto could be a great buy or Hjolmund who we could have gotten for 20M, but some “experts” here thought he couldn’t pass so automatically unusable… but at this point even Frendrup would be a great signing for this defensless Milan.
It’s insane how bad we are against keeping possession or playing smart in opposition 3rd, and how oblivious we still are at defending the counter-attacks…
Musaster..he should kill the game earlier.
Put him on bench. So many talent were better.
Come back isn’t secure way to win.
Kill it in first half then the coach can bring substitutes to give minute play.
Once again bring in more Italian players ( No Milan Players in Spaletti 25 line up).
I think Conceicao has found his evil masterplan on how to win matches. Start the match with Musah on the pitch, let the opponent take the lead and think they’re going to win it. Once they took off their attacking threats to secure the win, sub Musah and start playing. Works every time.
In other words: Musah is simply a decoy/distraction.
Has Puli been lifting weights?! 😂
And some say Pulisic only scores thanks to Leao. Just like yesterday. 😀 😀 😀
Milan has to transition into a two striker system to be more effective in the box. Whether that includes Leao in the lineup or not is a separate discussion.
Jimenez is too isolated, with little service to work with. His first touch needs to definitely improve. But he’s having to drop deeper every time to get on the ball and is starting to look more like Morata.
Gimenez is a fox in the box. Keep him there, bring a second striker to create more space for him and sort out the midfield. Reijnders has to continue at the 10 – overtime he will develop an understanding with Gimenez and they will hopefully synch up better.
Leao – Gimenez
Reijnders – Bondo – Fofana – Pulisic
Theo – Pavlovic – Gabbia – Walker
Maignan
The real story that is not addressed here is how are we still thinking Leao is some big top money star (with rumors of him getting a big contract and moving to another club). He has flashes of brilliance but absolutely no consistency. If he weren’t Brazilian he might not routinely be in the starting 11 based on form.
Brazilian? I think he’s closer to Hungarian. At least geographically.
I’m surprised by how poor Walker has been. He is beaten regularly as he seems to have lost a step. He’s only going to get slower. Also, he is poor at crossing. There were several times that Pulisic made a run down the right side and Walker couldn’t or wouldn’t make pass. Yes, he’s an upgrade from Emerson, but that’s a low bar. They need a better right back.