Chelsea F.C. must have won over a few American supporters with its signing of U.S. international Christian Pulisic, who got picked up in a $73.1-million transfer from German side Borussia Dortmund. In the 58th minute of Chelsea’s season opener against Manchester United, the 20-year-old stepped onto the pitch as a substitute, hoping to spark the Blues back from a 1-0 deficit.
Things didn’t turn out that way for Chelsea. Seven minutes after Pulisic took the field, Manchester United doubled their lead through Anthony Martial.
And two minutes later, it got even worse.
In fairness, Chelsea’s total team collapse is not entirely on Pulisic. Marcus Rashford’s second goal, which put United up 3-0, caught nearly the entire Chelsea team out of position. However, for American soccer fans yearning for international respect, it won’t matter. For Chelsea to allow two goals in less than ten minutes after his substitution will be hard to overlook.
Manchester United won 4-0 and Pulisic did little to spark an offensive counterpunch for Chelsea. His Premier League career has just started, but this was surely not the debut he was hoping for.
