Juventus made it two wins out of two to begin its UEFA Champions League return, with Weston McKennie playing a key role in Wednesday’s road victory.
McKennie started and played 90 minutes as the Bianconeri defeated RB Leipzig 3-2. Despite being down to 10 men for most of the second half, Thiago Motta’s squad used goals from Dusan Vlahovic and Chico Conceicao to steal three points against the Bundesliga hosts.
McKennie completed 87% of his passes, won three duels, and made two tackles, delivering a solid shift in midfield. The 26-year-old has started in each of Juventus’ last four matches, continuing to earn his role back for the club.
Juventus will host Cagliari on Sunday in its final match before the international break. McKennie will seek another strong performance before joining up with his U.S. men’s national team teammates.
Elsewhere, Malik Tillman went the distance in PSV’s UCL draw with Sporting Lisbon. Christian Pulisic logged 90 minutes, but AC Milan lost at Bayer Leverkusen.
In England, Josh Sargent and Haji Wright both scored in EFL Championship action.
Here is a closer look at this week’s Americans Abroad:
Europe
UEFA Champions League
Weston McKennie started and played 90 minutes in Juventus 3-2 win over RB Leipzig on Wednesday.
Tim Weah did not dress for Juventus.
Malik Tillman started and played 90 minutes in PSV’s 1-1 draw with Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday.
Richie Ledezma came off the bench and played 12 minutes for PSV.
Ricardo Pepi came off the bench and played one minute for PSV.
Christian Pulisic started and played 90 minutes in AC Milan’s 1-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.
Yunus Musah dressed but did not play for AC Milan.
Auston Trusty started and played 90 minutes in Celtic’s 7-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.
Cameron Carter-Vickers did not dress for Celtic.
Gio Reyna did not dress for Borussia Dortmund.
Folarin Balogun came off the bench and played 45 minutes in AS Monaco’s 2-2 draw with Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday.
UEFA Europa League
Tanner Tessmann did not dress in Lyon’s 4-1 win over Rangers on Thursday.
Timmy Chandler dressed but did not play in Eintracht Frankfurt’s 3-1 win over Besiktas on Thursday.
UEFA Conference League
Johnny Cardoso started and played 66 minutes in Real Betis’ 1-0 loss to Legia Warsaw on Thursday.
Lennard Maloney started and played 90 minutes in FC Heidenheim’s 2-1 win over Olimpia Ljubljana on Thursday.
George Bello started and played 55 minutes in LASK’s 2-2 draw with Djurgarden on Thursday.
Erik Palmer-Brown did not dress in Panathinaikos’ 1-1 draw with Borac Banja Luka on Thursday.
Matt Olosunde did not dress in The New Saints’ 2-0 loss to Fiorentina on Thursday.
England
Championship
Haji Wright started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Coventry City’s 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday.
Josh Sargent started, scored ONE PENALTY KICK GOAL, and played 90 minutes in Norwich City’s 1-1 draw with Leeds United on Tuesday.
Brenden Aaronson started and played 90 minutes for Leeds United.
Luca Koleosho started and played 72 minutes in Burnley’s 1-0 win over Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday.
Aidan Morris started and played 90 minutes in Middlesbrough’s 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday.
Daryl Dike did not dress for West Bromwich Albion.
Ethan Horvath dressed but did not play in Cardiff City’s 1-0 win over Millwall on Tuesday.
Duane Holmes came off the bench and played six minutes in Preston North End’s 3-0 win over Watford on Wednesday.
Lynden Gooch is OUT (Injury) for Stoke City.
League One
Gabriel Slonina started, made FIVE SAVES, and played 90 minutes in Barnsley’s 2-2 draw with Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday.
Donovan Pines started and played 54 minutes for Barnsley.
Have to say the 2nd half of the Juventus-RB Leipzig match was great viewing. All 3 Juventus goals were beauties and McKennie played quite well. He moved to the back after the Juventus goalie was shown the red card, and acquitted himself well in defense. I have no idea why a team in 2nd place in Juventus wanted to part ways with McKennie, given what he consistently brings to the team.
PN,
“I have no idea why a team in 2nd place in Juventus wanted to part ways with McKennie, given what he consistently brings to the team.”
Maybe Juve figured out how best to motivate Weston. Maybe they realized Weston needs a kick in the butt every once in a while.
Yup. You cannot allow Weston to get comfie or bored or he’ll coast and show up unmotivated and out of shape.
Honestly I sort of view him as the #12 guy on even a real good squad…and even if he moved to MLS he’d be your #12 guy. Because you seldom get your first-choice starting 11 for one reason or another, he’d start quite a bit, especially since he’s so versatile and can play so many different spots there’s somewhere on the field you can usually start him. But when you do have your first-choice squad, he’s the first guy off the bench. Some guys thrive when they’re allowed to focus on a single position with a fixed set of responsibilities; Weston’s one of those who does better with a new challenge constantly in front of him.
Still, not since Clint Dempsey have we had a guy so many incoming new managers wanted to cut that they soon invariably always realized they couldn’t do without.
@quozzel
“Honestly I sort of view him as the #12 guy on even a real good squad…”
That’s exactly what Juve has considered him since he arrived, a guy surplus to needs… not in their plans… who nevertheless starts week in and week out and somehow manages to be one of their better players.
quozzel
“Still, not since Clint Dempsey have we had a guy so many incoming new managers wanted to cut that they soon invariably always realized they couldn’t do without.”
You’d think that versatility would be an asset.
But at many top level euro clubs they believe that eventually a player matures into one position. Weston has not done that so , while his utility and value is unquestioned in some circles, being the swiss army guy, the “utility infielder”, makes you a lesser being.
Look at Man U.
McTominay, John O’Shea, Wes Brown, Phil Neville were all guys who could play many roles just about equally well.
And all of them were undervalued in their time. John Milner went through the same thing at Liverpool and other clubs.
Clint could have reasonably lined up in any of four positions. He seemed to score regardless of where he started out.
Some appreciate that versatility.
Others don’t want a “jack of all trades master of none.”
They want masters. They want a “proper” #9 or a “proper” #6, etc.
It is about being a pragmatist vs being a purist. You start out being a purist and then when you can’t buy all your “proper” position players, you revert to being a pragmatist. If Weston could figure out how to excel in one particular role it might make his life simpler. It might also lead to him being unemployed.
It’s up to him to figure it out but I’m not worried about him.
Amazing effort by McKennie in the third goal that didn’t make the highlights, hustling to cleanly strip the ball on a slide tackle from behind while Xavi Simons was on a fast break, leading to the counter for the 3rd goal.
Also, Douglas Luis can’t stop making mistakes on the field. How much did they pay to have this guy “replace” Wes? Villa must be laughing all the way to the bank.