The dust hasn’t seemed to settle since the penalty fiasco involving Christian Pulisic and the AC Milan players. Many are still upset that the USMNT superstar was denied the chance to take either of the two penalty kicks against Fiorentina by his own teammates. But in a completely different take, Craig Burley has instead criticized Pulisic for showing ‘weakness‘ by not fighting back for the penalty.

Burley, also a former Chelsea star, highlighted what he understood from the recent incident in Serie A over the weekend. Highlighting the first two learnings, he claimed that it not only shows a lack of respect for Paulo Fonseca’s decision but also reveals an ongoing dearth of esteem among AC Milan players. “Clearly, you have no respect for your teammates if you just bat them aside,” began Craig while speaking on ESPN FC.

“The third thing is how weak do you have to be—Christian Pulisic, a US International footballer—to stand aside and allow two different players to take a penalty. How weak are you? I am ripping that ball—and that’s maybe not the only thing I’m going to be ripping—I’m ripping it off them on the field because that is my job,” added Burley.

The former Scottish defender insisted that Pulisic should have fought back for the duty he has been given against Theo Hernandez and Tammy Abraham, the culprits who missed both penalties and failed to save their team from a 2-1 loss. “Unless I give it up, I’m having a bad game or I’m injured or I’m not feeling up to it, I pass on the responsibilities. If I don’t, I am not having anybody else take that responsibility off me.”

But since Pulisic was doing fine as a motor, he still didn’t bother snatching the ball. “That’s just disrespect, all the way around, and then weakness from an international footballer,” Burley concluded, criticizing both the team’s ignorance of the manager’s call and Pulisic for simply laying down his arms. But how could the USA star do something about the situation, considering there was some sort of pre-planning for the penalty?

Christian Pulisic would have been denied the penalty even if he had stood up against AC Milan teammates!

Continuing the debate, Shaka Hislop shared his thoughts on the situation. While he understood Theo Hernandez’s decision to take the first penalty, considering it was his birthday, Hislop found it quite bizarre when he saw Fikayo Tomori run, jump, and grab the ball, LeBron James-style, before handing it to Tammy Abraham.

“There was some kind of premeditation about getting the ball into the hand of Abraham and then Tomori stands around almost like a little bodyguard, making sure that nobody gets too close to Tammy,” said the former goalkeeper.

However, Craig Burley again raised fingers at Pulisic, questioning his lack of fighting spirit, saying, “Where’s Christian? Stood in the corner eating his candy!”

Be that as it may, this is surely a messed up situation at AC Milan. Though Paulo Fonseca has assured it won’t happen again, it remains to be seen if the harmony remains among players after such hostility.