A flu-stricken Christian Pulisic delivered a heroic second-half brace coming from the bench on Monday to lead AC Milan to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Torino to help vault his team back to the top of Serie A.
"Two days ago I was truly dead, today I felt much better. I'm happy to have come here to help the team," Pulisic told Sky Sports Italia after the match, revealing the extent of his battle with the flu ahead of Monday's match. "Yesterday we didn't know if I could play, but this morning I felt much better. I'm happy with the goals, but the important thing was to win the match."
Weekend wins for title rivals Napoli and Internazionale left Milan in third, meaning the team needed all three points to return to the summit. However, Milan was 2-0 down after 17 minutes after Torino got a goal from Nikola Vlasic and a penalty by Duván Zapata to start the game.
Adrien Rabiot started Milan's comeback with a spectacular shot from 35 meters before Pulisic entered in the 67th minute to score twice, sealing the 3-2 victory and putting Milan level on points with Napoli, but ahead on goal difference to put them back in first place.
"We also have to praise the medical staff because Pulisic was really ill, yet he came and gave us a huge hand," assistant coach Marco Landucci said after the game. He replaced head coach Massimiliano Allegri who watched the game from a box while serving a suspension.
"[Pulisic] is a strong player, he's very calm in the locker room, but on the pitch he's nasty and in front of goal, he's a sharpshooter," Landucci added.
Pulisic will be a key player for the United States in next summer's World Cup, with the Americans learning their group-stage opponents -- Paraguay, Australia and the winner of one of UEFA's qualifying playoffs -- in Friday's draw.
For now, the U.S. captain is focused on keeping up his stellar form in Serie A, where he is tied for the league lead in goals with seven after his brace on Monday.
"It's a season in which we aren't seeing Milan dominate games a lot," Pulisic said. "I still need to find more rhythm. The team is doing very well this year. We're taking it game by game."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.