Why is Christian Pulisic not playing for Milan against Celtic in the 2026 club friendly?
Christian Pulisic will not feature when Milan kicks off their 2026 pre-season with a friendly against Celtic, leaving fans anxious to see when the American star will make his debut under new coach Ruben Amorim. With several key players also unavailable after summer international commitments, the club head to Glasgow with a young and untried squad.
Pulisic’s absence quickly became one of the biggest talking points surrounding Milan’s season opener. While the club prepares for a tough summer that includes games across Europe, Asia and Australia, the American winger remains on the sidelines.
Milan visits Celtic Park in its first official summer-friendly season on Saturday, July 25giving Amorim his first chance to test his ideas against outside opposition.
The Italian club has already played an indoor friendly against Milan Futuro, and won 7-0but the meeting with the Scottish champion represents a much stronger challenge. Celtic are still very much on track with their preparations, making the game an important early test of Milan’s new plan.
Why isn’t Pulisic playing
The reason for Pulisic’s absence is straightforward. The United States international is still on holiday after the World Cup and is not scheduled to report to Milanello until July 29. Milan released a return timetable showing Pulisic, on the sidelines Santiago Giménezhe will rejoin training next week.
Although the holiday is the immediate reason for Pulisic’s absence against Celtic, the American is also recovering from an injury sustained during the World Cup. In accordance with Athletic, Pulisic suffered a bone bruise and a small fracture in his right leg during the United States’ Round of 16 loss to Belgium. The injury occurred when he attempted a shot and collided with the Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans.
After initially trying to continue, Pulisic was eventually substituted. “I just completely sprained my ankle and knee in one game,” the American explained after the game. A subsequent medical examination revealed bone fractures and microfracturealthough doctors believe that recovery will require weeks rather than months.
Milan takes a cautious approach
Reports in Italy indicate that Milan have no intention of chasing one of their key attacking players back to the pitch.
La Gazzetta dello Sport again MilanNews reports that the recovery process begins with rest before gradual rehabilitation replaces the 27-year-old’s regular pre-season training. The team’s main goal is for him to be present during the first match of Serie A against Torino on August 23although no unnecessary risks will be taken.
Reports suggest the Rossoneri may delay his return a bit if more recovery time improves his long-term condition. With the club having a tight opening schedule, Amorim prefers to have Pulisic fully fit rather than force an early return.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’, ‘ fbq(‘init’, ‘1324276914788316’); fbq(‘init’, ‘1447352325462177’); fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
var ns1 = document.createElement(‘noscript’);
ns1.innerHTML = ”;
document.body.appendChild(ns1);
var ns2 = document.createElement(‘noscript’);
ns2.innerHTML = ‘‘;
document.body.appendChild(ns2);
self.__next_f.push([1,”e:[“$”,”html”,null,{“lang”:”en-US”,”className”:”__variable_f0f095 “,”children”:[[“$”,”head”,null,{“children”:[[“$”,”meta”,null,{“property”:”fb:app_id”,”content”:”3404408633123352″}],[“$”,”meta”,null,{“property”:”fb:pages”,”content”:””}],[“$”,”link”,null,{“rel”:”amphtml”,”href”:”https://worldsoccertalk.com/amp/news/why-isnt-christian-pulisic-isnt-playing-for-milan-against-celtic-in-2026-club-friendly”}],[“$”,”meta”,null,{“property”:”push:title”,”content”:”Why isn’t Christian Pulisic isn’t playing for Milan against Celtic in 2026 club friendly?”}],[“$”,”meta”,null,{“property”:”push:description”,”content”:”While the club prepares for a demanding summer that includes matches across Europe, Asia, and Australia, the American winger remains on the sidelines.”}],[“$”,”meta”,null,{“property”:”mrf:tags”,”content”:”ac-milan;celtic;christian-pulisic;friendly;serie-a”}],[[“$”,”meta”,”content_format:sport_news”,{“property”:”mrf:tags”,”content”:”content_format:sport_news”}],[“$”,”meta”,”editorial_route:route_1″,{“property”:”mrf:tags”,”content”:”editorial_route:route_1″}]],[“$”,”meta”,null,{“property”:”mrf:sections”,”content”:”World Soccer Talk;news”}],[“$”,”meta”,null,{“property”:”og:updated_time”,”content”:”2026-07-25T06:04:32-04:00″}],[[[“$”,”script”,null,{“type”:”text/javascript”,”dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”$15″}}],[“$”,”link”,null,{“rel”:”preconnect”,”href”:”https://cdn.cookielaw.org”}],[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”onetrust-sdk”,”src”:”https://cdn.cookielaw.org/scripttemplates/otSDKStub.js”,”type”:”text/javascript”,”charSet”:”UTF-8″,”data-domain-script”:”019a29ca-4db9-7d2f-a043-a2f00c49f8b4″}],[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”onetrust-optanon-wrapper”,”type”:”text/javascript”,”dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”function OptanonWrapper() {\n var groups = window.OnetrustActiveGroups || ”;\n var hasC0002 = groups.indexOf(‘,C0002,’) !== -1;\n var hasC0004 = groups.indexOf(‘,C0004,’) !== -1;\n gtag(‘consent’, ‘update’, {\n ad_storage: hasC0004 ? ‘granted’ : ‘denied’,\n ad_user_data: hasC0004 ? ‘granted’ : ‘denied’,\n ad_personalization: hasC0004 ? ‘granted’ : ‘denied’,\n analytics_storage: hasC0002 ? ‘granted’ : ‘denied’,\n personalization_storage: hasC0002 ? ‘granted’ : ‘denied’,\n functionality_storage: hasC0002 ? ‘granted’ : ‘denied’,\n security_storage: ‘granted’\n });\n window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent(‘oneTrustConsentUpdated’));\n }”}}]],”$L16″]]}],[“$”,”body”,null,{“className”:”__variable_5a830f __variable_8b4686″,”children”:[[“$”,”$L17″,null,{}],[“$”,”$Lb”,null,{“parallelRouterKey”:”children”,”segmentPath”:[“children”],”error”:”$undefined”,”errorStyles”:”$undefined”,”errorScripts”:”$undefined”,”template”:[“$”,”$Ld”,null,{}],”templateStyles”:”$undefined”,”templateScripts”:”$undefined”,”notFound”:”$L18″,”notFoundStyles”:[]}],[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”WebsiteSchema”,”type”:”application/ld+json”,”dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”{\”@context\”:\” Soccer Talk\”,\”url\”:\”https://worldsoccertalk.com\”,\”inLanguage\”:\”EN\”}”}}],[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”NewsMediaOrganizationSchema”,”type”:”application/ld+json”,”dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”{\”@context\”:\”http://schema.org\”,\”@type\”:\”NewsMediaOrganization\”,\”name\”:\”World Soccer Talk\”,\”url\”:\” #1 Source for Soccer TV Schedules, Streaming Links, Cord Cutting Reviews, Soccer News and Interviews With Broadcasters.\”,\”address\”:{\”@type\”:\”PostalAddress\”,\”streetAddress\”:\”61 W 23rd Street, 2nd Floor\”,\”addressLocality\”:\”New York\”,\”addressRegion\”:\”NY\”,\”postalCode\”:\”10010\”,\”addressCountry\”:{\”@type\”:\”Country\”,\”name\”:\”United States of America\”}},\”sameAs\”:[\”https://www.facebook.com/worldsoccertalk\”,\”https://twitter.com/worldsoccertalk\”,\”https://www.linkedin.com/company/world-soccer-talk/\”,\”https://worldsoccertalk.com/rss/feed\”]}”}}],[[“$”,”$L19″,null,{“id”:”gtm-script”,”strategy”:”beforeInteractive”,”children”:”\n (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({‘gtm.start’:\n new Date().getTime(),event:’gtm.js’});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],\n j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!=’dataLayer’?’u0026l=”+l:”‘;j.async=true;j.src=\n ‘ })(window,document,’script’,’dataLayer’,’GTM-W2D8T2H’);\n “}],[“$”,”noscript”,null,{“dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”u003ciframe src=\” height=\”0\” width=\”0\” style=\”display:none;visibility:hidden\”u003eu003c/iframeu003e”}}]],[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”marfeel”,”className”:”optanon-category-C0002″,”type”:”text/plain”,”dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”function e(e){var t=!(arguments.lengthu003e1u0026u0026void 0!==arguments[1])||arguments[1],c=document.createElement(\”script\”);c.src=e,t?c.type=\”module\”:(c.async=!0,c.type=\”text/javascript\”,c.setAttribute(\”nomodule\”,\”\”));var n=document.getElementsByTagName(\”script\”)[0];n.parentNode.insertBefore(c,n)}function t(t,c,n){var a,o,r;null!==(a=t.marfeel)u0026u0026void 0!==a||(t.marfeel={}),null!==(o=(r=t.marfeel).cmd)u0026u0026void 0!==o||(r.cmd=[]),t.marfeel.config=n,t.marfeel.config.accountId=c;var i=\” n=arguments.lengthu003e2u0026u0026void 0!==arguments[2]?arguments[2]:{};t(e,c,n)}(window,294,{adsTrackingFromClient:true}/*config*/);”}}],[[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”custom-scripts”,”type”:”text/javascript”,”dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”\n window.futbolSites = window.futbolSites || { cmd: [] }\n window.googletag = window.googletag || { cmd: [] }\n window.marfeel = window.marfeel || { cmd: [] }\n window.vfQ = window.vfQ || [];\n window.opta_settings = {\n subscription_id: ‘6540a023842af2c9d54a808a66d7e401’,\n language: ‘en_US’,\n timezone: ‘user’\n }\n “}}],[“$”,”$L1a”,null,{}],[[[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”gpt-lib”,”className”:”optanon-category-C0004″,”type”:”text/plain”,”src”:”https://securepubads.g.doubleclick.net/tag/js/gpt.js”,”async”:true}],[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”relevant-lib”,”className”:”optanon-category-C0004″,”type”:”text/plain”,”src”:”https://futbol-cdn.relevant-digital.com/static/tags/62b24652ca3bd41063b67f8c.js”,”async”:true}]],[“$”,”$L1b”,null,{“section”:”articles”}]]],[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”facebookPixelBc”,”className”:”optanon-category-C0004″,”type”:”text/plain”,”dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’, ‘ fbq(‘init’, ‘1324276914788316’); fbq(‘init’, ‘1447352325462177’); fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);\n var ns1 = document.createElement(‘noscript’);\n ns1.innerHTML = ‘u003cimg height=\”1\” width=\”1\” style=\”display:none\” src=\” /u003e’;\n document.body.appendChild(ns1);\n var ns2 = document.createElement(‘noscript’);\n ns2.innerHTML = ‘u003cimg height=\”1\” width=\”1\” style=\”display:none\” src=\” /u003e’;\n document.body.appendChild(ns2);\n “}}],[“$”,”script”,null,{“defer”:true,”id”:”gravitec”,”className”:”optanon-category-C0002″,”type”:”text/plain”,”src”:”https://cdn.gravitec.net/storage/85b129ed6cef770e3208a20c277c6b58/client.js”}],[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”twitterPixelBc”,”className”:”optanon-category-C0004″,”type”:”text/plain”,”dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”!function(e,t,n,s,u,a){e.twq||(s=e.twq=function(){s.exe?s.exe.apply(s,arguments):s.queue.push(arguments); },s.version=’1.1′,s.queue=[],u=t.createElement(n),u.async=!0,u.src=” a=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0],a.parentNode.insertBefore(u,a))}(window,document,’script’); twq(‘config’,’o403j’);”}}],[[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”comscore”,”className”:”optanon-category-C0002″,”type”:”text/plain”,”dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”$1c”}}],false],[“$”,”script”,null,{“id”:”adm-pixel-smart”,”className”:”optanon-category-C0004″,”type”:”text/plain”,”dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”!function(a,e,d,m,t){a.adm={};a.adm.pixid=153623;var o=e.getElementsByTagName(\”head\”)[0],c=e.createElement(\”script\”);a.adm.json=\” (function() { var img = new Image(); img.src=” })();\n “}}],[“$”,”script”,null,{“defer”:true,”id”:”viafoura-entry”,”className”:”optanon-category-C0002″,”type”:”text/plain”,”src”:”https://cdn.viafoura.net/entry/index.js”}],[“$”,”style”,null,{“dangerouslySetInnerHTML”:{“__html”:”.isSpecialHubEvent .special-event-hero-title { color: #B80F0E; }”}}]]}]]}]n”])
