Christian Pulisic drought adds pressure to AC Milan before Atalanta

Christian Pulišić goes into AC Milan's trip to Atalanta still scoreless in 2026. Milan are third on 67 points after 35 league matches, but they have won only 1 of their last 5 league outings and arrive after a 2-0 defeat to Sassuolo. This is not a clean record-watch preview. It is a check on whether Milan can keep their Champions League position together while their attack has stalled.

Why the pressure is on Milan's attack

The numbers around Milan are plain enough. They have scored only 1 goal in their last five league games, and Sports Mole's line on the slump is hard to ignore: “With just one goal from their last five outings - fewer than any other side since the start of April - Milan's form has nosedived after beating Inter in the Derby della Madonnina.”

Pulišić has not been the problem in a simple sense, because he has 7 Serie A goals in 27 appearances. The issue is that his 2026 drought has become the easiest symbol of a wider dip. A 6.94 league rating suggests useful output, not a player dragging Milan through the bad patch on his own.

The team context matters too. Milan's 19 wins, 10 draws and 6 defeats explain why they are still third, but the margin is narrowing. Even the strongest part of their season is now being asked to survive a run of poor attacking form.

Atalanta are not arriving as passengers

Atalanta's own league form has made this a difficult fixture rather than a straightforward rescue mission for Milan. They are seventh on 55 points after 35 matches, seven points behind sixth-placed Como with three games to go. Their recent league form is DLDLW, and they have taken only 10 points from their last 9 matches.

That leaves the European picture murkier than a simple top-six chase. One reading of their situation is that they still have a mathematical route into Europe, while another says their spring form has effectively killed any realistic push for a top-six finish. Either way, they are in no position to hand Milan an easy night.

GOAL put the focus on Pulišić directly: “Still scoreless in 2026, Pulisic's next opportunity to quiet the critics comes Sunday against Atalanta.” That is fair. The wider point is that Milan need more than one player to break the deadlock, because their recent record says the goals have dried up across the side.

Pulišić is still one of the better attacking outputs in the squad, but this preview is really about whether AC Milan can avoid another flat performance when the table is tightening. A third-place position sounds stable. The recent results do not look stable at all, and another low-scoring display would only make the final stretch more awkward.