Pulisic helps AC Milan to a “special” UCL win at Real Madrid

Christian Pulisic hailed AC Milan's victory at the home of Champions League holders Real Madrid as a “really special evening” after the US star helped set the Italian side on their way to a memorable 3-1 win on Tuesday. To bring victory at the Bernabeu.

Pulisic sent a corner for Malick Thiaw and headed the visitors into the lead in the 12th minute before subsequent goals from Álvaro Morata and Tijjani Reijnders secured two wins in a row for Milan.

“Amazing result for us,” Pulisic told CBS Sports. “I mean, coming here and playing is obviously not easy (because of) their past in the Champions League.”

“It’s a tough place to play. It’s obviously a very special evening for us to achieve such a performance and win the game.”

Vinícius Júnior equalized for Madrid from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute after stumbling in the penalty area.

But Pulisic played a role again as Milan took the lead again. His pass into the box found Rafael Leão, whose shot was parried by Andriy Lunin, but Morata took advantage of the rebound to restore the visitors' lead against his former club.

Morata had already faced hostility from the home fans, who appeared to remember the goal he scored to take Juventus to the 2015 final at their team's expense.

Reijnders scored Milan's third goal as the home fans expressed their displeasure at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

It was Milan's first win against Madrid in 15 years and handed last year's champions two consecutive defeats for the first time since October 2021.

“We won because the players had the courage to come here and not be afraid of anything and play the game we wanted,” Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca said at a post-match press conference.

“We prepared for a game in which we wanted to keep the ball. We did important things in the first half and we suffered more in the second half, but we deserved to win, there is no doubt about that.”

Milan now have six points and are in 18th place after four of their eight games in the new league phase of the 36-team Champions League, which would be enough for a place in the playoffs for the quarter-finals.

However, the start to the season in Serie A has been difficult, with Milan sitting in seventh place before Saturday's trip to Cagliari.

“Our coach just said enjoy tonight, we have to rest tomorrow because we have a big game coming up this weekend and if we don't win this one it won't mean anything,” Pulisic said.

“So we’ll try to enjoy tonight as a team and celebrate a little, but tomorrow it’s straight back to work.”

Information from the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.