UEFA Champions League

The appearances of Americans in Europe’s most prestigious club competition has become a norm in the past few decades. With players like Weston McKennie who has played in five straight editions of the competition and Christian Pulisic who won the tournament in 2021 with Chelsea, the UEFA Champions League has gotten accustomed to seeing the United States’ best.

With appearances, though, comes the most important part of the game and an honor that many of today’s American Champions League stars have under their belt in the tournament — scoring goals.

A Lazio goalkeeper goal vs. Atlético Madrid on Tuesday was the biggest highlight of UEFA Champions League action on the day. 

Lazio trailed 1-0 in the final seconds of the game and their Italian goalkeeper Ivan Provedel became the most unlikely hero. After coming up for a corner kick he timed a perfect run and fired in a beautiful headed goal.

This looks like a trained center forward scoring this goal!

United States men’s national team fans might have felt discouraged on Tuesday to see the Christian Pulisic benched news. For the first time this season Pulisic wasn’t in AC Milan’s starting XI as the club hosted Newcastle to a 0-0 draw in their UEFA Champions League opener.

Nigerian forward Samuel Chukwueze started in Pulisic’s usual place on the right wing for his first start with the club. Chukwueze arrived from Villarreal in the summer.

The UEFA Champions League has long been considered the pinnacle of club football. With the best teams competing to be crowned Europe's elite, players get the perfect stage to showcase their abilities. The competition is where legends are born, and those legends don’t get bigger than the players with the most Champions League goals in history.

Fans wondering how many Americans play in Champions League action this season will be pleased to know that nine USMNT players will compete in the competition.

The Champions League draw took place on Thursday and now we know who all the Americans will be facing in the group stage. 

The new stoppage time rules that English soccer has introduced this season to avoid time wasting are absurd and will not be used in UEFA competition, Zvonimir Boban, the European governing body's chief of football, said on Wednesday.

Following FIFA's approach at the men's and women's World Cups, England's referees body said in July that officials would add on the exact time lost to goal celebrations, substitutions and injuries.

The aim is to increase the time the ball is in play, with games now routinely going beyond 100 minutes in total.

Paris St Germain will kick off their quest for a maiden Champions League trophy in a strong Group F, which looks to be the Champions League Group of Death, featuring Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan and Newcastle United following the draw on Thursday. This means American Christian Pulisic will face his former club Dortmund as well as PSG in the opening stage of his quest for a second Champions League trophy.

Scoring with a volley from the top of the box straight off a corner kick is one of the game's most audacious tactics. It's pure poetry when it comes off (David Beckham to Paul Scholes, anyone?), but its execution requires pinpoint service and the perfect finish. The margin for error is minuscule, and if either the corner or volley isn't flawless, then you're simply hoping the shot flies into Row Z and you're not getting torn apart on a counter going the other way.