AC Milan’s Christian Pulisic and Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie have both become key players in two of Italy’s biggest teams. On Saturday the meeting in Milan for the much-anticipated game between the Rossoneri and the Bianconeri (You can catch the two US men’s national team stars on Most important+ throughout the season). However, while the two US internationals both play important roles, they couldn’t have taken a less similar path at their respective clubs over the past two years.
Pulisic quickly became a central player at AC Milan when he joined in the summer of 2023 from Chelsea. McKennie, on the other hand, has been out of the squad each of the last two summers, looking for a possible exit after the club informed him he was not in their plans. No transfer destinations have emerged and now he is now one of the most important players under new manager Thiago Motta.
Pulisic impresses second manager in a row
Pulisic is one of the best players in all of Serie A and has had an outstanding start to the season, scoring seven goals in all competitions and also starting 14 of the 15 games played so far by the Italian giants. His impact this season has been nothing short of incredible, and follows a very impressive first season at the club, where Pulisic scored 15 goals in 50 games played in all competitions. Pulisic has been a model of consistency despite a tumultuous stretch at the club, which led American owner Gerry Cardinale to appoint Paulo Fonseca to replace Stefano Pioli on the sidelines during the summer.
Pulisic has been one of the club’s best signings over the past few years. His impact on the team has been good since he joined the Rossoneri, as he has also been able to fit in several tactical positions under Pioli before and now under Fonseca. In fact, he arrived as a backup option for Milan star Rafael Leao as a left winger, but the former Rossoneri manager quickly realized that he could not play without him and made him a starter on the right side of the attack in place of Samu Chukwueze, with Ruben Loftus -Cheek playing behind the main striker, Olivier Giroud.
When the new season started under Fonseca, Spanish striker Alvaro Morata replaced Giroud in the attack, but Pulisic became the first responsible for driving his team-mates forward and up the field, while Lea is still struggling with some ups and downs in this first part of the season The Portuguese winger was widely considered the star of the team and the most talented attacker on the pitch, but game after game Pulisic is proving that all wrong. It’s safe to say that most of the best games played by Fonseca’s team this season, such as the 3-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid in the Champions League, had a lot to do with the American winger’s performances.
McKennie is fighting his way back into contention
On Saturday, Pulisic and AC Milan midfielder Yunus Musah will also face two other USMNT teammates as Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah suit up for Juventus. McKennie’s importance to Juventus cannot be ignored, but he has taken much longer to build his status at the club. The midfielder joined Juventus in the summer of 2020 and has had an uneventful spell at the club. After his loan spell from Leeds United in 2023 things seemed different for him.
When he returned in the summer, coach Massimiliano Allegri didn’t really consider him a key player and multiple rumors suggested he was on his way out of the club, waiting for the right move. Weeks passed and he started to play in the pre-season tour more and more, convincing Allegri that he could find some space. An injury to Paul Pogba and the suspension of Nicolo Fagioli meant that McKennie found the space he needed, and played 38 games in all competitions, playing as both a central midfielder and winger as well.
Allegri left in the summer and was replaced by Thiago Motta, and the club again thought McKennie could leave, this time partly because his contract expired in the summer of 2025. The American was left out of the squad and it seemed impossible. see him again in a Juventus jersey, especially after the refused to join Aston Villa at the end of June. Once again, he proved everyone wrong. Motta announced that he was back in the squad before the opening home game of the season against Como and so far he has played 12 games, and scored two goals between Serie A and the UEFA Champions League, proving that he can still be a key player for the Bianconeri. .
Pulisic and McKennie will face each other on Saturday, in one of the most exciting confrontations of the season. Their status at the clubs is similar as they have shown how important they are over the past few weeks. They just did it in different ways.
How to watch and odds
- Date: Saturday, November 23 | time: 12 pm ET
- Location: San Siro — Milan, Italy
- Live stream: Most important+
- Probability: AC Milan +120; Draws +220; Juventus +240
require.config({“baseUrl”:”https://sportsfly.cbsistatic.com/fly-0830/bundles/sportsmediajs/js-build”,”config”:{“version”:{“fly/components/accordion”:”1.0″,”fly/components/alert”:”1.0″,”fly/components/base”:”1.0″,”fly/components/carousel”:”1.0″,”fly/components/dropdown”:”1.0″,”fly/components/fixate”:”1.0″,”fly/components/form-validate”:”1.0″,”fly/components/image-gallery”:”1.0″,”fly/components/iframe-messenger”:”1.0″,”fly/components/load-more”:”1.0″,”fly/components/load-more-article”:”1.0″,”fly/components/load-more-scroll”:”1.0″,”fly/components/loading”:”1.0″,”fly/components/modal”:”1.0″,”fly/components/modal-iframe”:”1.0″,”fly/components/network-bar”:”1.0″,”fly/components/poll”:”1.0″,”fly/components/search-player”:”1.0″,”fly/components/social-button”:”1.0″,”fly/components/social-counts”:”1.0″,”fly/components/social-links”:”1.0″,”fly/components/tabs”:”1.0″,”fly/components/video”:”1.0″,”fly/libs/easy-xdm”:”2.4.17.1″,”fly/libs/jquery.cookie”:”1.2″,”fly/libs/jquery.throttle-debounce”:”1.1″,”fly/libs/jquery.widget”:”1.9.2″,”fly/libs/omniture.s-code”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/jquery-mobile-init”:”1.0″,”fly/libs/jquery.mobile”:”1.3.2″,”fly/libs/backbone”:”1.0.0″,”fly/libs/underscore”:”1.5.1″,”fly/libs/jquery.easing”:”1.3″,”fly/managers/ad”:”2.0″,”fly/managers/components”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/cookie”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/debug”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/geo”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/gpt”:”4.3″,”fly/managers/history”:”2.0″,”fly/managers/madison”:”1.0″,”fly/managers/social-authentication”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/data-prefix”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/data-selector”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/function-natives”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/guid”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/log”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/object-helper”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/string-helper”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/string-vars”:”1.0″,”fly/utils/url-helper”:”1.0″,”libs/jshashtable”:”2.1″,”libs/select2″:”3.5.1″,”libs/jsonp”:”2.4.0″,”libs/jquery/mobile”:”1.4.5″,”libs/modernizr.custom”:”2.6.2″,”libs/velocity”:”1.2.2″,”libs/dataTables”:”1.10.6″,”libs/dataTables.fixedColumns”:”3.0.4″,”libs/dataTables.fixedHeader”:”2.1.2″,”libs/dateformat”:”1.0.3″,”libs/waypoints/infinite”:”3.1.1″,”libs/waypoints/inview”:”3.1.1″,”libs/waypoints/jquery.waypoints”:”3.1.1″,”libs/waypoints/sticky”:”3.1.1″,”libs/jquery/dotdotdot”:”1.6.1″,”libs/jquery/flexslider”:”2.1″,”libs/jquery/lazyload”:”1.9.3″,”libs/jquery/maskedinput”:”1.3.1″,”libs/jquery/marquee”:”1.3.1″,”libs/jquery/numberformatter”:”1.2.3″,”libs/jquery/placeholder”:”0.2.4″,”libs/jquery/scrollbar”:”0.1.6″,”libs/jquery/tablesorter”:”2.0.5″,”libs/jquery/touchswipe”:”1.6.18″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.core”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.draggable”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.mouse”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.position”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.slider”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.sortable”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.touch-punch”:”0.2.3″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.autocomplete”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.accordion”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.tabs”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.menu”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.dialog”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.resizable”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.button”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.tooltip”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.effects”:”1.11.4″,”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.datepicker”:”1.11.4″}},”shim”:{“liveconnection/managers/connection”:{“deps”:[“liveconnection/libs/sockjs-0.3.4″]},”liveconnection/libs/sockjs-0.3.4”:{“exports”:”SockJS”},”libs/setValueFromArray”:{“exports”:”set”},”libs/getValueFromArray”:{“exports”:”get”},”fly/libs/jquery.mobile-1.3.2″:[“version!fly/utils/jquery-mobile-init”],”libs/backbone.marionette”:{“deps”:[“jquery”,”version!fly/libs/underscore”,”version!fly/libs/backbone”],”exports”:”Marionette”},”fly/libs/underscore-1.5.1″:{“exports”:”_”},”fly/libs/backbone-1.0.0″:{“deps”:[“version!fly/libs/underscore”,”jquery”],”exports”:”Backbone”},”libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.tabs-1.11.4″:[“jquery”,”version!libs/jquery/ui/jquery.ui.core”,”version!fly/libs/jquery.widget”],”libs/jquery/flexslider-2.1″:[“jquery”],”libs/dataTables.fixedColumns-3.0.4″:[“jquery”,”version!libs/dataTables”],”libs/dataTables.fixedHeader-2.1.2″:[“jquery”,”version!libs/dataTables”],”https://sports.cbsimg.net/js/CBSi/app/VideoPlayer/AdobePass-min.js”:[“https://sports.cbsimg.net/js/CBSi/util/Utils-min.js”]},”map”:{“*”:{“adobe-pass”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/js/CBSi/app/VideoPlayer/AdobePass-min.js”,”facebook”:”https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js”,”facebook-debug”:”https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all/debug.js”,”google”:”https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js”,”google-csa”:”https://www.google.com/adsense/search/async-ads.js”,”google-javascript-api”:”https://www.google.com/jsapi”,”google-client-api”:”https://accounts.google.com/gsi/client”,”gpt”:”https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/tag/js/gpt.js”,”hlsjs”:”https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/hls.js/1.0.7/hls.js”,”recaptcha”:”https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js?onload=loadRecaptcha&render=explicit”,”recaptcha_ajax”:”https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api/js/recaptcha_ajax.js”,”supreme-golf”:”https://sgapps-staging.supremegolf.com/search/assets/js/bundle.js”,”taboola”:”https://cdn.taboola.com/libtrc/cbsinteractive-cbssports/loader.js”,”twitter”:”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”,”video-avia”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/avia-js/2.12.0/player/avia.min.js”,”video-avia-ui”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/avia-js/2.12.0/plugins/ui/avia.ui.min.js”,”video-avia-gam”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/avia-js/2.12.0/plugins/gam/avia.gam.min.js”,”video-avia-hls”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/avia-js/2.12.0/plugins/hls/avia.hls.min.js”,”video-avia-playlist”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/avia-js/2.12.0/plugins/playlist/avia.playlist.min.js”,”video-ima3″:”https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3.js”,”video-ima3-dai”:”https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/sdkloader/ima3_dai.js”,”video-utils”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/js/CBSi/util/Utils-min.js”,”video-vast-tracking”:”https://sports.cbsimg.net/fly/js/sb55/vast-js/vtg-vast-client.js”}},”waitSeconds”:300});
