Christian Pulisic Showed 'Elite Levels Of Kobe Bryant Energy' When Asked About Scoring Against Real Madrid

Christian Pulisic has drawn comparisons with NBA legend Kobe Bryant after he showcased his elite mentality in a post-match interview.

The 22-year-old American fired Chelsea into the lead in the 14th minute against Real Madrid at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium on Tuesday.

However, Karim Benzema cancelled out Pulisic's opener in the 29th minute as Chelsea had to settle for a draw in the first-leg Champions League semi-final clash.

When asked if he was happy, Pulisic responded: "Yeah, it's obviously a solid result playing away against a strong Madrid team, [but] I think it could have been better.

"But we'll take it and we're gonna be ready for the second leg."

Pulisic was immediately reminded by the fact that he had scored against Madrid in a semi-final tie in the Champions League.

And the former Borussia Dortmund star echoed shades of Bryant's famous interview from the 2009 NBA Finals.

"Yeah, obviously that's a proud moment, but yeah, the job's nowhere near done so we still have a lot to do," Pulisic said.

Bryant delivered a memorable post-match interview when reporters asked why he wasn't happy with the Los Angeles Lakers being 2-0 up in the NBA Finals series against Orlando Magic.

The Lakers icon, who tragically died last January in a helicopter crash, told reporters at the time: "The job is not finished. Is the job finished? I don't think so."

Pulisic admitted that Chelsea should have performed better on the night, saying that Madrid had "more confidence and made it tough for us."

The United States international told Chelsea's official website: "It could have been even better.

"We didn't concede too many chances but their goal came out of nowhere from a set piece and that changed the momentum a little bit.

"They had more confidence and made it tough for us. We could have been more clinical and scored more goals but we'll take a 1-1 in Madrid.

PA

PA

"We're positive going into the second leg but the job is nowhere near done."

Timo Werner was denied a huge chance to score from close range by Thibaut Courtois early in the first half at the Di Stefano Stadium.

Courtois put in a superb performance for Madrid in the first leg, but his attempted handshake appeared to be snubbed by Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel at the full-time whistle.

Spanish media have also surprisingly made a strong case for why Benzema's stunning equaliser for Madrid should have been ruled out.

Topics: Chelsea, Football, UEFA, Premier League, England, Champions League, Christian Pulisic, Spain, Real Madrid, La Liga

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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