Americans Abroad: Pulisic impresses but Bayern too strong in 3-1 win
If you were tasked with selecting a Best XI from Saturday's "Der Klassiker" between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, you'd be hard pressed to leave Dortmund winger Christian Pulisic off your list.
Unfortunately for the American, you'd also be hard pressed to put many of his teammates from Saturday in that same Best XI.
With the opportunity to leapfrog Bayern into first place in the Bundesliga table, Dortmund took an early punch to the face when Arjen Robben curled a left-footed shot into the upper corner of the net in the 16th minute.
Following the opening goal, Dortmund salvaged a bit of a foothold and it was Pulisic forging the chances, first by forcing Munich keeper Sven Ulreich to parry away an angled drive before moments later picking out Shinji Kagawa for an opportunity that skittered just wide of the far post.
But despite Dortmund's jabs forward, Bayern remained in control for much of the match against punishing the yellow and black with a Robert Lewandowski flick taking a fortunate bounce in the 37th minute. David Alaba would add a third in the for Bayern in the 67th minute.
Down three, Pulisic managed to conjure up one final piece of magic to save some of Dortmund's blushes.
https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/926891915995316224
Taking on two Munich players in corner, Pulisic rolled the ball forward before expertly megging his man and finding Marc Bartra inside the penalty area. Bartra's strike was equally as brilliant curling around the keeper to get Dortmund on the board.
It was very much too little too late though as Munich comfortably cruised to the 3-1 win. The champions open up a six-point lead on Dortmund and a four-point lead on second place Leipzig.