Christian Pulisic’s emergence as AC Milan’s creative influence is likely to see him restored to the starting lineup on Tuesday night.

The captain of the USMNT remained on the bench until the 70th minute, with various reports suggesting reasons for why a player with nine goal involvements this season wasn’t starting.

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The former standout from Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund further showcased his growing impact at AC Milan on Saturday, as his vital role for the Rossoneri was evident once more.

With five goals and four assists in Serie A so far this season, Pulisic has established himself as one of Italy’s most formidable attackers, sparking fresh rumors of potential interest from Liverpool or Manchester United.

Ahead of Champions League Matchday 5, the 26-year-old also has two goals and one assist in Europe to give him a stand out 12 goal involvements across his 16 games.

It was surprising then this weekend to see him left on the bench until the latter stages for AC Milan’s 0-0 draw with Juventus – perhaps with an eye on a must win game in the UCL against Slovan Bratislava.

However it only served to prove that the Italian giants must do everything in their power to keep and build around Pulisic.

“He came from the national team with a problem, yesterday and today we tried but he wasn’t well,” Paolo Fonseca said in the post-match press conference to explain Pulisic’s absence in the starting XI.

“I couldn’t let him play more. I took the risk. It didn’t seem like the right time to change players on the fly, we made some substitutions that didn’t have an impact.”

Without Pulisic in the team, Milan offered a blunt attacking showing, creating just one shot on target with 43% possession in the 0-0 draw.

That followed six goals in the past two games with Pulisic on the pitch.

Pulisic has started ten of 12 Serie A games this season but having arrived back in Milan late in the week following his international break with the USMNT, the decision was made to leave the attacker on the bench.

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But the problem for AC Milan is that a trend is starting to form and that trend paints Pulisic as perhaps the team’s most important player.

He has been left on the bench twice now in the past month for games against two of the league’s best teams – Napoli before Juventus – and twice his team has desperately struggled to get anything going in attack.

Those two games saw AC Milan create their fewest collective expected goals this season, 0.57xG against Napoli and then 0.31xG against Juventus.

Overall, Milan average 1.58xG per game and it’s no coincidence that that has largely come with Pulisic on the pitch. He leads his team in goals and ranks third in expected goals behind only Tammy Abraham and Rafael Leao.

Every number paints the same story: AC Milan are not the same team without their talismanic American and that was further proven this weekend as Ruben Loftus-Cheek failed to fill the gap left by the Pennsylvania native.

Pulisic retains responsibility in reigniting his own personal season that has begun to stutter ever-so-slightly over the past weeks. 

After combining for five goals and three assists through the first eight matches of the season, Pulisic has managed only one assist and zero goals in his last four – admittedly two of those coming in shortened cameos from the bench.

Yet, his absence would have made things clearer than ever before. Milan need to get Pulisic on the pitch regularly and get him back into rhythm. 

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Sitting 7th and scoring just 20 league goals this season – the joint-fewest of any team in the league’s top seven – Milan do not have the luxury of keeping Pulisic fresh. He has been their most effective attacker for some time now and any march to Europe will have to include him as a focal point.

Additionally, if Milan can’t show the trust in Pulisic to regularly use him in the biggest games against the league’s biggest sides, then a move away will only continue to look more appealing. 

Milan need to prove that Pulsiic is as central to their project as he should be and to his credit, he has made no secret of his desire to build a legacy in Italy.

“It’s amazing to be a part of this club. There’s so much history and incredible players, legends. To just be a small part of its history is really special for me. I want to keep going with them for the next years.”

While it wouldn’t have helped his club side, Milan got a glimpse of the next phase of Pulisic’s growth over the international break as he dominated the second leg of the U.S.’s successful CONCACAF Nations League tie with Jamaica.

Taking up the central role that he has at times operated in for Milan, Pulisic was instrumental to everything Mauricio Pochettino’s side did going forward and players who can control and effect the game in the constant and critical ways he showed do not come around often.

It’s one thing to come up with the occasional moment of briliance while drifting in and out of games as some may have accused Pulisic of during his spell in the Premier League with Chelsea.

Pulisic is displaying moments of the superstar potential that the likes of Kevin De Bruyne have displayed over the past decade.

It’s incredibly rare and makes Pulisic just that much more valuable to AC Milan. He will get the chance to shine again on Tuesday night, and Milan need him to

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