United States international Weston McKennie AND Timothy Weah were a large part of the reason Juventus he fell over Manchester City on Wednesday in the Champions League.
This duo also made history.
Weah delivered a perfect cross to his USMNT teammate in the second half of Juve’s 2-0 victory over City in Turin, Italy, and when McKennie hit a phenomenal onside volley Edersonboth became the first Americans to score and assist in Champions League history.
“It was an important moment for the team, considering the situation we were in,” McKennie said after the match. “We wanted to go out and give our all. We knew Man City could punish us with one action, we knew what kind of match it would be, so we wanted to win the match to boost our confidence.”
The result ended a run of four straight draws for Juventus, who are sixth in the table Series Aand this allowed them to reach the knockout phase of this season’s renewed Champions League with 11 points and 14th place in the table.
Weah and McKennie have played for the U.S. senior team since 2018 and have played 73 games together for club and country. After the match, McKennie spoke about the challenges of being an American and playing for a top team in Europe as the pair battled for minutes at Juventus.
“Being an American and being here is something you have to deal with, but I like it,” McKennie said. “I like it when people doubt me, and sometimes I play my best football when people doubt me.”
McKennie has only played in five Italian league games this season and scored one goal, but Juventus coach Thiago Motta said the midfielder brings unique qualities to the team.
“Weston can do anything,” Motta said after the game. “He has incredible physicality, but also great technique, knows when to time his runs and can be even more dangerous when coming from behind, as we saw today and against PSV Eindhoven.
“We are happy to have players with such qualities because during the match he can give us different alternatives. I’m happy for him and all the players tonight.”
Juventus defeated Man City in each of the last three games to end the season First league a championship record of six games in a row without defeat against Italian teams.
This report used information from the Associated Press.
