Christian Pulisic became the first United States men’s national team international to score in an FA Cup final with his goal for Chelsea in its 2-1 loss to Arsenal before he left the pitch just after halftime with a hamstring injury.
The ex-Borussia Dortmund attacker put Chelsea in the lead after five minutes with a neat finish following some good link-up play with teammate Olivier Giroud.
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Arsenal pulled level on 29 minutes with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring a penalty, having been fouled by Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta, with the Spanish defender also suffering a hamstring knock.
Pulisic, who has been in excellent form since the restart, looked dangerous for Chelsea, but was forced off on 49 minutes and replaced by Pedro as he fell, holding the back of his leg and seeming in some distress after taking a shot.
Aubameyang later put Arsenal ahead on 67 minutes, which ultimately was the final decider. Chelsea were reduced to 10 men on 73 minutes when Mateo Kovacic was shown a second yellow card. Pedro exited the match on a stretcher in the final moments of the match after suffering a shoulder injury.
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said it was unfortunate for his side to suffer so many injuries during the game. He all but assured that Pulisic and Azpilicueta will be ruled out for the Blues’ Champions League round-of-16 second-leg match at Bayern Munich on August 8.
“I don’t even know, I am afraid. I know that they are hamstring injuries with Christian and Azpi they have to be scanned and assessed over the next few days and they clearly won’t be fit for next week. Pedro, I believe, could be a dislocated shoulder but don’t go too soon on that because I am not sure,” Lampard said.
Lampard also lamented that his side lost control of the game after a initial strong start.
“We got sloppy, slower in our game and it was hard to change the tempo after that. In the second half we came out well. If Christian goes through and scores instead of shooting wide and pulling his hamstring. There were certain circumstances which conspired against us, for no bad reason. In terms of football, we didn’t play well enough,” he added.
The 21-year-old Pulisic was only the third U.S. men’s international to feature in an FA Cup after John Harkes in Sheffield Wednesday‘s defeat to Arsenal in 1993 and Tim Howard who started Manchester United‘s victory over Millwall in 2004.
In 1993, Sheffield Wednesday drew the final with Arsenal before it went to a replay — as was custom at the time — which they lost 2-1. Harkes played for the entirety of both matches. Ex-goalkeeper Howard is the only U.S. men’s international to have won the trophy.
USWNT forward Carli Lloyd was the first American to score in an FA Cup final with her goal in Manchester City‘s 4-1 win over Birmingham Women.
source https://casinonewsblogger.com/chelseas-pulisic-scores-injures-hamstring-vs-arsenal/
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