This archive report was first published on 26 June 2020.
Christian Pulisic's rise to stardom is a testament to the faith Jurgen Klopp had in him when he was just a 17-year-old youth team player at Borussia Dortmund. The Liverpool boss gave him his chance at first-team action, and Pulisic repaid him in style by helping Liverpool secure the Premier League title.
On Thursday, Pulisic fired Chelsea ahead in their clash against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, setting up a 2-1 victory that ended the visitors' two-year reign as champions. The USA international joined Chelsea last year after impressing in the Bundesliga for Borussia Dortmund.
"The craziest thing is people don’t realise I started out in the youth teams over there," Pulisic told the 13&ME podcast back in 2018. "I was just working hard for that one opportunity I could get. I was going to German school over there and I will never forget that one day I was in class and I looked at my phone and it was a text from my youth coach saying you are training with the first team tonight. The rest of the day I wasn’t even paying attention. I couldn’t think of anything else. I’m getting ready, going to training and it’s just unreal. I was 16 or 17 and I’m going in the warm-up and there’s huge names at the time. There’s Aubameyang, Marco Reus, Mats Hummels, Mkhitaryan. All these guys and they were just in the Champions League final the year before. It’s like, I’m going in and I’m just this 16-year-old kid. I was thinking, 'just do my best'. I was just so excited and I’m just thankful to Jurgen Klopp that he gave me that opportunity. I’ll take that with me forever and I’m really grateful," he added.
Since joining Liverpool in 2015, Klopp has led the Reds to numerous titles, including last season's Champions League triumph, the UEFA Super Cup, the Club World Cup, and now the Premier League title.
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