Having played and scored in his team's Europa League win against Slavia Prague during the week, Pioli felt the USMNT star would benefit from a bit of a rest. He said after the game: "I saw [Ruben] Loftus-Cheek and Pulisic were a little tired. It's normal because we had played 72 hours ago. So we needed freshness and the players who came in gave it to us."