Pulisic discusses being ‘the villain’, Milan perks, sacrifices and American pressure | OneFootball

In recent years, it is fair to suggest that Christian Pulisic has been one of the best players in Europe, and alongside this, he has established himself as one of AC Milan’s stars.

It is nothing new for Milan to have high-quality players, but there has often been a thing about balance, and for the longest time, the Rossoneri suffered with this massively. On the left, a star-studded pair of Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao, and on the right, who?

There have been multiple combinations, but none have been able to provide something more concrete, and more balancing. That was until Pulisic arrived. From an actual game perspective, the side looks much more balanced. However, the numbers also support this.

Whilst Theo and Rafa have fallen off a little in recent times, the American has picked up the slack, and even though the club are struggling, the former Chelsea man cannot do much more than what he is doing and has been, for the past few years.

Pulisic spoke in depth to Goal about a host of different things, from labels to faith and how much he values playing for Milan.

Labels placed on him…

“I don’t think it’s a matter of me wanting or not wanting to be a villain; I think it’s just the way I am.

“It doesn’t seem like I’m interested in that but, under the layers, even though I may not be the most outgoing person, I’m one of the most competitive people you’ll ever meet. I love competing. If that means that everyone’s gonna hate me and want to fight me, that’s fine with me.

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“I’m never gonna shy away. I’m never gonna step down from challenges or be scared in any way. I think that’s the most important thing to me.

“I embrace these moments [being the ‘villain’], it was cool watching that episode [of the documentary] and watching that back. It was cool to see. I did have some really interesting experiences, and that was a new one.

“Being in that villain role is a newer thing to me. It was so funny to be but, like I said, I love to compete, so bring on whatever you’ve got for me.”

Having the weight of America on him…

“I think with time, and with experience as well, it’s definitely gotten easier in a lot of ways, I’m used to it now. I don’t put as much pressure on myself. It doesn’t weigh on me or make me feel like it’s some burden that I need to have because I am who I am in the soccer world.

“I don’t feel that I need to carry some kind of weight to show people that I need to be a certain way all the time. I don’t really feel that. I’m pretty, pretty calm. I’m pretty happy with where I’m at and where I’ve come in life.

“I just hope people can watch it and see like ‘OK, this guy is going through similar things that I’m going through,’ whether that’s on a different scale or in a different location or a different job. I want them to say, ‘He’s going through the same battles that a lot of people are out there.’

“I hope that I can show my ways of overcoming it, my support system, the people in my life who matter to me, and how they’ve helped me through it. I haven’t done this alone at all.

“If people can see that – and I mean this for all of the people out there who are similar to me in a more introverted way – if they see how I deal with things and go about my life, maybe they’ll learn a little bit more about me.

“It’s been subtle [to see a different side of his personality] but I think it’s been powerful.”

The benefits of playing for Milan…

“Those are the moments I look forward to the most, for sure. I love to show them [his family] around here, bring them to the games here. The San Siro? It’s just amazing.

Photo by PIERO CRUCIATTI/AF

“To be honest, it really started since coming here. With my faith in God, I feel like I’m in such a more peaceful place off the field, away from everything. I can say that pretty comfortably.”

Sacrifices to now…

“I’ve thought about it, for sure, sometimes, I kind of wonder what my life would be like if I didn’t go down this path if I didn’t move to Europe so young to pursue this dream of mine. But then I feel extremely lucky to be in the position I am, as much as I don’t love that stuff with it.

“I don’t love taking pictures with random people. I just want to go about my business when I’m in public, just like most people do. Even with that, though, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

“I’m extremely grateful. If that’s the first problem I have, I’m doing OK. I’m lucky. But, yeah, I do think about it, and I think there are a lot of people out there who are similar to me or are in a similar boat, and they’re not exactly the most outgoing people who want to be seen all the time. I think, really, that’s just who I am.

“It was the worst year of my life, moving to Europe at 15, leaving everything behind and going through what I did, it was horrible.

“It really was a struggle at the beginning. I had to just see that out and decide if where I wanted to go in life was really worth what I was going through at that time.

“I always told myself that it was, so I’ll just see it out. I just said, ‘I’ll keep going.'”

The ‘world-class’ label…

“It would probably surprise people how little I do care about that kind of stuff, truthfully. What matters to me are my coaches and my teammates and then the people that I keep close in my life.

“To me, there’s just no one else that I’m trying to please with the way that I play or the way that I live my life. So for me, I don’t care about what people have to say from my past or whatever, or how they think I’m playing.

“It’s just that that’s not important to me. What’s important is what directly affects me and how I can improve myself. Random people’s opinions online? That’ll never be important to me.

“It’s amazing, and I’m definitely excited, but it’s [the World Cup] just not something that’s on my brain at the moment. Just with our schedule, we literally play every three or four days. It’s crazy.

“I’ll think about it in March when I’m back with the national team, and I’m super excited about getting a chance at another trophy. It’s just that we have a lot of time and a lot of things can happen before that, so I’m just focusing on what I’m doing. That, the near future, it’s all super exciting, too.”

His purpose in football…

“In some ways, it’s changed for sure. This is the game that we love. I’ll never stop saying how lucky I am to do this. It’s what I’ve always been most passionate about. I loved playing soccer as a kid, and, to me, being able to be a pro is the best thing you can do.

“I have those moments where I still absolutely love it. It’s still what I’m most passionate about.

“Of course, you go through moments where it does feel like your job, and I think that that’s normal. You have tough times and you have great times.

“I don’t think soccer is my main – I think it’s part of my purpose in life, but not my only purpose in life. I think when you look at it from that perspective and, of course, it’s easy to say that when things are going well, but it’s not like my whole life is just better now because I am playing better.

“It doesn’t always go hand in hand like that, but it does make things easier.

“Everyone on the outside will think that things are great because you’re scoring or winning, but it’s not always like that. I still have my tough moments, even now, that I go through.

“Just because I’m scoring more, they think everything’s great. But it’s still life. Everyone battles, but I’m extremely comfortable, especially with my faith as well, with where I am now.

“I just hope some people can see all of this and relate to me and how I am, maybe I can inspire some people as well. That’s the goal of all of this, right?”