Christian Pulisic needed only 45 minutes at the Stadio Olimpico to remind Milan exactly what had been missing from their attacking midfield across the opening three matchdays, and according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the American was fuelled by genuine anger at watching all of them from the bench.
That anger is precisely what Ruben Amorim wanted. The coach had already revealed on the eve of the Lazio trip that Pulisic's pre-season was disrupted first by a summer injury, then by a knock sustained in his very first training session under the new regime. The timeline left Amorim with little choice but to wait, even as speculation about a rift between the two bubbled up online.
Amorim was blunt about his selection logic. "I won't remove anyone who is doing well just to put a 'name' on the field," he said. "This is my way of managing the group, and I will die with these principles. You have to understand the context and my history to understand why I make certain choices." The message was clear: Pulisic could have been introduced sooner, but the players who had earned their places in training were not going to be dropped on reputation alone.
That stance makes more sense when you consider who occupied the creative midfield slots in his absence. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Adrien Rabiot and Alexis Saelemaekers all had their turns, and none produced what Pulisic generated in a single half against Lazio. The gap in quality was obvious, not because those players lack ability, but because Pulisic reads the playmaker role more naturally than any of them under this system.
The broader context adds a layer of concern. Pulisic has not scored since 28 December, when he found the net against Verona. The hope was that the World Cup might sharpen him, but the United States were knocked out in the round of 16 by Belgium, and Pulisic suffered a microfracture to his tibia in that match. The injury ate into much of his summer preparation, and his history suggests recoveries rarely come quickly for him despite a lean, agile frame.
Amorim, though, sounded ready to move forward. "Pulisic is important and will play a lot of games," the coach said, framing the Roma cameo less as a cautious return and more as the starting pistol.
Whether Pulisic can rediscover his scoring touch will determine how much the second half of the season differs from the stuttering first few weeks, and after what he showed in Rome, the ball is squarely at his feet.