Report: Christian Pulisic diagnosed with muscle injury, set to miss 3-4 weeks

According to a report by ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle and Stephan Uersfeld, Christian Pulisic will “miss the next 3-4 weeks after tearing a muscle in his right thigh”. He exited Tuesday’s friendly against Chile (a 1-1 draw) in the 36th minute, after scoring the match’s opening goal. The 20-year-old attacker received an MRI and evaluation in Houston, and returned to Germany to continue treatment.

“The boys have come back fit from the international break,” Borussia Dortmund manager Lucien Favre shared in a press conference. “Only Pulisic, unfortunately, has returned with a pulled muscle in his leg.”

Pulisic will likely miss out on his final Der Klassiker against Bayern Munich on April 6th, a match that could be the biggest one of the season; the German super-clubs are currently tied atop the Bundesliga with 60 points (with Dortmund behind on goal differential). The native of Hershey, Pennsylvania is set to join Chelsea next season, after a $73 million fee was agreed upon in January.

Things are building towards an anticlimactic end for Pulisic at Dortmund, as he had already been relegated to a supplementary role at the club with the emergence of Jadon Sancho. However, he remains an important player for the national team, and should be fully rehabilitated for this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup. His influential presence — alongside other young German-based talents such as Tyler Adams and Weston McKennie — will be paramount if the USMNT is going to rebuild following the failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.