Why Pulisic was left out of Milan starting line-up vs. Lecce

The American had started their first match of the campaign, a shock 2-1 home defeat to Cremonese at San Siro last weekend.

He would’ve been in the starting XI for tonight’s encounter too, but Pulisic has been struggling with an ankle issue for much of the summer.

It flared up again over the last few days and coach Max Allegri decided to keep him on the bench to begin with.

This led to the decision to field Alexis Saelemaekers alongside Santiago Gimenez in Milan’s 3-5-2 on Friday evening. Rafael Leao was also ruled out earlier this week with an injury that he picked up in the 2-0 victory over Bari in the Coppa Italia.