Christian Pulisic is enjoying a spell of red hot form for AC Milan and has activated ‘Captain America’ mode. The 26-year-old has 10 goal contributions (7 goals, 3 assists) in 11 appearances already in the 2023/24 season.
He recently scored an unbelievable ‘Olimpico’ goal, from a direct corner kick, in Milan’s 3-1 thrashing of Club Brugge in the UEFA Champions League.
What Pulisic did after the game also caught many by surprise. The 26-year-old showed off his Italian-speaking skills by giving an entire post-match interview in the language after his heroics against Club Brugge.
This isn’t the first time that the USMNT winger is giving an interview in fluent Italian either. He actually ‘debuted’ his fluency in the Italian language in a post-match interview after Milan’s 1-0 win over Udinese in their recent Serie A match, where he provided an assist.
But Pulisic is not the only USMNT player to be fluent in Italian. A number of the US Team’s players currently play in the Serie A, including industrious midfielder Weston McKennie.
He joined Juventus in 2021 and had one loan spell at Nottingham Forest in 2023. But during his years in Italy, he’s worked hard to become fluent in Italian.
Even Pulisic’s AC Milan teammate Yunus Musah is fluent in Italian.
He spoke the language fluently in his presentation ceremony as a Rossoneri player last year. That is because Musah grew up in Italy as his parents moved to the country following Yunus’ birth.
There are also a number of notable footballers across Europe who can speak a foreign language fluently.
Jude Bellingham gave a full interview in Spanish after Real Madrid won the Champions League final last year. He learnt the language in under 12 months of joining the club.
Kylian Mbappe is particularly multi-lingual. He learnt to speak Spanish with ease even before joining Real Madrid thanks to lessons in school. Apart from that, Mbappe can also talk in English fluently.
Paul Pogba surprised many a few years ago when it turns out that he can speak Spanish with ease despite never playing or living in Spain. He’s fluent in Spanish, Italian, French and English.