Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie became the first pair of U.S. internationals to score on the same day in the UEFA Champions League when Europe's premier competition returned on Tuesday.
Pulisic scored AC Milan's opening goal in their Champions League match against Liverpool. That came shortly after McKennie scored Juventus' second goal during a 3-1 win over PSV Eindhoven in an earlier match.
The match at the San Siro had started less than three minutes when Pulisic played a double pass with Alvaro Morata and burst down the right flank before firing into the bottom corner.
It was a nice way to celebrate Pulisic's birthday, who turns 26 on Wednesday. But Milan failed to make the most of Pulisic's early goal and went on to lose 3-1.
“It's a bad result for us,” Pulisic told Sky Italia. “We have to find solutions, improve and win games.”
“We had energy at times, but I have to analyse the game. It seems like we couldn't get going, we couldn't keep the ball in the opponent's half.”
The result means Milan have now managed just one win from their first five games this season.
“Yes, it's a difficult start. [to the season]We are not happy with this. We have to change things and improve.”
Pulisic became the first American to play in a Champions League final when he won the competition with Chelsea in 2021.
Three other American players also took part in the opening day of the revamped Champions League: PSV's Ricardo Pepi, Malik Tillman and Richie Ledezma. Other American players, such as Borussia Dortmund's Gio Reyna and injured Juventus striker Tim Weah, could be involved later this week or later in the competition.
With so many players competing at the highest level of club soccer, that can only be good news for new U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino as the Americans prepare for a home World Cup in 2026.
Pulisic moved to Milan before the start of last season and had an impressive debut campaign for the Italian side, scoring 15 goals in all competitions.
That made Pulisic the first midfielder to score 10+ goals for Milan, excluding penalties, since Kaka in the 2005-06 season.
Kaka was at San Siro for Tuesday's game and made a brief speech to the Rossoneri fans before kick-off. The former Brazil international – and World Cup winner – spent six seasons at Milan, helping them to their last Champions League title in 2007.
Pulisic has also made a bright start to the current season, with two goals and two assists in Milan's opening four Serie A games.
Milan's next game is against city rivals Inter on Sunday.
“Yes, obviously it's an important game,” Pulisic said. “We have to be ready to fight and give everything because we can make the difference.”
Information from ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
