MILAN – Christian Pulisic scored direct from a corner kick to set AC Milan on the way to its first victory in this season's Champions League.
But the United States international admitted it was an accident.
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Pulisic surprised everyone when he curled in a kick from the left corner flag in the 34th minute to put Milan 1-0 up against Club Brugge on Tuesday.
Pulisic raised his arms up and smiled broadly before being embraced by his teammates, as he laughed seeming incredulous.
“Today it was a bit of luck but it's still worth a goal. I'm very happy,” a laughing Pulisic said in Italian. “I didn't try to do that but it was a good cross, I'll say that, and after a nice, nice goal but I wasn't trying that.”
Pulisic has scored seven goals this season for Milan in a fine start to the campaign. He has also weighed in with a number of assists.
“I work hard every day. I always want to be decisive in matches,” he said. “I’m very happy this year, I'm getting a lot of goals and assists, but it’s not always like that. So I’ll continue like this and hope to continue scoring.”
There was a late scare — and coach Paulo Fonseca certainly looked concerned — when Pulisic had to be helped off late after taking a knock to his knee but the 26-year-old was able to return and almost doubled his tally.
Milan went on to beat Brugge 3-1 for its first Champions League points in the new-look format after defeats to Liverpool — when Pulisic also scored — and Bayer Leverkusen.
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