Germany

Borussia Dortmund climbed to second in the Bundesliga table — just two points behind leader Bayern Munich following its surprising draw with Augsburg on Tuesday — after thumping Nurnberg 7-0 at the Westfalenstadion on Wednesday.

Since returning from a muscular injury, Christian Pulisic has been at his best for BVB, scoring in back-to-back matches before assisting on Dortmund’s first goal on Wednesday.

The American winger went on an impressive run before carving open Nurnberg’s backline with a sensational pass for Jacob Bruun Larsen’s opener. 

After scoring a fluky goal against Club Bruges in the Champions League Tuesday (although a hugely important one that secured all three points for Borussia Dortmund), Christian Pulisic made it two goals in two games after salvaging a point for BVB against Hoffenheim Saturday.

Perhaps most importantly from an individual perspective, the 20-year-old went the full 90 minutes for the first time this season after being sidelined at the start of the campaign with a muscular injury. 

In the end, Shakhtar Donetsk’s trusted strategy of supplementing its Ukrainian core of players with a bunch of Brazilians proved, once again, a masterstroke — this time in spoiling the appearance of the youngest manager the Champions League has ever seen, Hoffenheim’s 31-year-old whizkid Julian Nagelsmann.

In arguably the greatest American Champions League matchday since DaMarcus Beasley roofed one for PSV against Monaco in the 2005 Round of 16, our pubescent USMNT squad registered a game-winning goal and a point-obtaining assist on Tuesday. The goal was somewhat unknowingly golazo'd by Christian Pulisic (celebrating his 20th birthday), and the assist was recorded by Weston McKennie (who actually celebrated his 20th birthday a few weeks ago).

It was supposed to be the best matchup of the first match day of the UEFA Nations League, the last two World Cup champions going at it on the first day of the new competition. Unfortunately, aside from a few lively moments from Kylian Mbappé early and Germany late, the match was mostly tepid, finishing in a 0-0 draw.