Christian Pulisic was restricted to playing 28 minutes from the bench during AC Milan’s loss to Napoli on Tuesday after suffering from flu.
The USMNT captain was not considered fit enough to start at San Siro and was brought on in the 62nd minute with his side trailing 2-0.
It was the first Serie A match Pulisic has not started this season, having provided five goals and three assists in eight league matches before Tuesday’s defeat.
“Today we don’t have Pulisic who is not in the best condition to start the match,“ Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca told Sky Sports Italia ahead of the fixture.
Asked if Pulisic could be fit enough to come on, Fonseca replied: “Let’s see, we’ll put him on the bench in the meantime. He’s better but he wasn’t confident. Let’s see if we need him.”
Milan were beaten 2-0 by Napoli following first-half goals from Romelu Lukaku and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The hosts had a second-half goal from Alvaro Morata disallowed for a marginal offside.
Pulisic’s illness added to Milan’s list of absentees, with Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders missing through suspension and Matteo Gabbia, Tammy Abraham, Ismael Bennacer, Luka Jovic and Alessandro Florenzi injured.
The victory lifts Napoli seven points clear of second place Inter Milan at the top of Serie A, while Milan remain eighth.
Despite winning just four of their opening nine league matches and trailing leaders Napoli by 11 points, Fonseca insisted there was a long way to go in the title race.
“Especially seeing how we played, how the team responded to a difficult moment and how it showed unity even without important players,“ Fonseca told DAZN.
“No team has won the league after nine games and none has lost it after nine games, for this reason we must continue on the path of growth. Clearly we will need results to enter this fight.”
Milan return to action on Saturday with a trip to Monza before facing Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday.
(Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images)
