Christian Pulišić on Milan, the Champions League and representing the USA in Europe – interview

Born in Pennsylvania to soccer-playing parents, Christian Pulišić left the United States as a teenager to pursue the opportunity of playing top-level football in Europe. Following spells at Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea and now AC Milan, the 26-year-old is already the top US scorer and appearance-maker in UEFA club competitions.

The winger was a member of the Chelsea side that won the UEFA Champions League in 2020/21 and having found a new goalscoring consistency at his latest club, is hoping for another long run in the world's top club competition in the season that Milan mark the 125th anniversary of their foundation.

On representing the United States in European football

I'm really proud to be an American. I hope that what I do on the pitch is really inspiring kids back home in the US and saying: "You know what, maybe I can go over to Europe and I can do it too." I had some Americans that played in Europe that I looked up to, but not a lot playing at the highest level.

Now you can see already that there are more and more players coming through, Americans playing in Europe. To see the support back home, to see how the sport has grown since I've been in Europe the last ten years, back in the US, it's really special to me. [I'm] definitely proud to represent my country.

On moving to Germany to play football as a teenager

It was a scary thing to do, especially as an American leaving the country and my family. I kind of knew around that age that I really wanted to go over to Europe, I wanted to test myself against the best, I wanted to play in Europe at the highest level. It was just about finding the right time. I had been scouted by some teams in Europe. Then I had the opportunity to go and play over in the academy at Dortmund.

I would just give thanks to the whole club [for] the way that they treated me, and they really wanted to give me that opportunity and give me a chance to play with the professionals. Even if I was still physically maybe not there, they knew that I had the ability and that I would get there, so they gave me the opportunities and I always wanted it.

On winning the Champions League final with Chelsea

I will never forget that experience. Winning the Champions League is a dream you have as a kid. To play in that game, to win the Champions League, one of the best nights of my life, just incredible memories and definitely still feels surreal.

On his ambitions for Milan's 125th anniversary campaign

It's a club that's always striving for success. We want to win titles. I think you can feel it around the building. It's an important aspect to this club. With all the history of the club, you feel it every day when you walk into the training ground that we're here to have a good time, but we want to win.

The Champions League is always right up at the top as far as the competitions that you play in. So we want to continue to perform there and give ourselves an opportunity to go far in the competition.