Did Christian Pulisic get tiger tattoo with goal celebration in mind? USMNT & AC Milan star explains iconic inking on left arm

The 25-year-old forward boasts plenty of body art, with the most famous of those inked into his skin when “18 or 19” years of age. Pulisic was on the books of Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund back then, as his stock began to soar.

He has gone on to represent Chelsea and AC Milan, becoming a record-setting Champions League winner during his time at Stamford Bridge. Pulisic has also earned 71 caps for the United States, with the captain’s armband being filled at times.

Pulisic has scored 30 goals for his country and 60 at club level – with a personal-best return of 15 efforts recorded for Milan last season. Plenty of those strikes have seen him break out a celebration that now features in gaming franchises such as EA FC.

Jimmy Fallon has asked Pulisic about his tattoo on The Tonight Show, with the Pennsylvania native saying when quizzed on whether he had a celebration in mind when opting for a tiger design: “Not exactly for that purpose! I don’t know what I was thinking. That wasn’t the plan. It wasn’t a celebration. But when we were doing it, the tattoo artist was saying, ‘Hold it up like this. I want to make sure that if you ever want to do this, that it’ll line up perfectly with your eyes’.”

Pulisic said that if he could clear his skin and start over when it comes to tattoos he “probably would”, but he will be hoping to have more cause for celebration in 2024-25. Ahead of that campaign, a number of friendly dates will be taken in on American soil.