UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League is where the best of the best in men’s soccer compete: Ronaldo, Messi, Mané, Lewandowski — and a whole bunch of Yanks. This week, the fifth match day of the 2020-21 competition, featured more Americans in Champions League action than ever before.

With Konrad de la Fuente coming on as a substitute for Barcelona in the 80th minute on Wednesday, a record seven Americans appeared in the UCL this week. 

Stephanie Frappart became the first female referee to officiate a men’s UEFA Champions League match on Wednesday, taking charge of the Juventus-Dynamo Kyiv game in Turin. 

You just love to see it

Stephanie Frappart becomes the first woman to referee a men's @ChampionsLeague match

Way to blaze a trail, Stephanie pic.twitter.com/j20ywQi4Z1

RB Leipzig traveled to Turkey to face İstanbul Başakşehir on Wednesday. American 21-year-old midfielder Tyler Adams played the entire second half and picked up a hockey assist and — you know what, that’s all I’m going to say about this game right now because you need to just watch the RB Leipzig-Başakşehir highlights in full (below).

RB Leipzig-Başakşehir Highlights

Done watching?

Good.

Inter Milan lives! (Along with every other team in Champions League Group B heading into next week’s final matchday.) 

After Shakhtar Donetsk denied Real Madrid a place in the Round of 16 by winning 2-0 at the Olimpiyskiy earlier in the day, Inter caused more disruption on Tuesday after defeating Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-2 at Borussia-Park.

Jurgen Klopp has spent most of the last two months complaining about the timing of fixtures as Liverpool fights to defend its Premier League title while simultaneously competing for another Champions League crown. With that in mind (and a slew of injuries), the Reds boss started a number of youngsters against Ajax on Tuesday, including two teenagers and a goalkeeper who had just four prior senior appearances, none in the Champions League.

As things stand, Real Madrid is out of the Champions League. Shakhtar Donetsk, for the second time, has defeated Real, this time by a scoreline of 2-0 at the Olimpiyskiy. 

Although now level on seven points in Group B, Shakhtar holds the head-to-head tiebreaker. Borussia Mönchengladbach could win the group later Tuesday by defeating Inter at Borussia-Park, an outcome that Real would probably accept at this point since Los Blancos could then host a disinterested Gladbach side on the final matchday. 

Caoimhin Kelleher has waited patiently for his chance to play first team football. A product of Cork, Ireland, Kelleher joined Liverpool's youth setup from his local club Ringhamon Rangers back in 2015. He slowly made his way through the U-18s to the U-23s while also playing at the international level for the Republic of Ireland underage sides.

Wednesday's Champions League Group F match promises to be an exciting one, as Dortmund and Lazio have scored nine and eight goals, respectively, through the first four games of group play.