MILAN (AP) — 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.
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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