The situation for Chelsea and Christian Pulisic could not be better. The rain began to flood the Alfedo Di Stéfano Stadium, but the torrential came from the grass when a shot turned Real Madrid's night into momentary frustration. Just at the start of the match, Pulisic was present in a great way by giving the advantage to the Londoners with his first goal in a semifinals of the Champions League.
The whites were finding the key to open Thomas Tuchel's safe, but in doing so they forgot what they might find behind it. In this way, Antonio Rüdiger he saw his American companion in the distance, who broke the central line to sneak between them and, later, leave Thibaut Courtois on the canvas to send the ball to the back of the nets.
In this way, in addition to being in the select group of American semi-finalists, now stands as the first player in the history of his country who can officially score against the historic Spanish club. Dom Dwyer did it in 2017 as well, but on that occasion it was in an organized league friendly., in which the madridistas faced the MLS All-Star team.
Chelsea could have counted this goal as a double advantage for their cause, but Timo Werner could not take advantage of what could be an excellent assist also from Pulisic when he finished off with his head -only- towards the body of Courtois. Moments after the goal, Karim Benzema leveled the score.
Breaking the curse against Real Madrid
For Christian Pulisic, this is the fifth time he has faced Real Madrid, but the first within a knockout phase. The other four times were in the group stages of 2016 and 2017 and he was unable to win a win with Borussia Dortmund on any of them. There were two draws and two losses from which, in his first game against them, he was able to extract an assist. In turn, this is the first time that an American has multiple goals in direct elimination of the Champions League.