American Players Abroad

Weston McKennie scored for a second straight match, but a man who is in even finer goal scoring form struck twice as Juventus lost yet again, this time 2-1 to Hellas Verona on Saturday.

Giovanni Simeone — son of Atlético Madrid manager Diego — followed up his four-goal performance against Lazio on Sunday by scoring twice against Juve in the first 15 minutes on Saturday. The first was a simple tap-in; his second was an absolute worldie that proved to be the match winner.

Ricardo Pepi won’t be playing in Major League Soccer for much longer. The 18-year-old American phenom has requested a transfer from FC Dallas and is being eyed up by some of Europe’s biggest clubs. In an interview with 90 Minute Football, Pepi revealed that his dream is to play for Real Madrid. That begs the question; has an American played for Real Madrid?

As the calendar approaches Halloween, Sergiño Dest is having a truly horrifying streak of missed chances in LaLiga. Barcelona fell 1-0 to Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday in league action and a brutal Sergiño Dest miss could have been the difference.

With Barcelona trailing in the 36th minute, Memphis Depay made a brilliant move to fire in a dangerous cross toward the back post. Dest timed his run to perfection, and with the speed of a bullet he got on to the end of Depay’s cross. The only issue was Dest fired the ball into the stratosphere.

Since losing Cristiano Ronaldo in the offseason, Juventus has struggled to replace the Portuguese star’s impressive goal haul. Ronaldo had an incredible ability to leap for headed goals in his three seasons with the Bianconeri. But this Weston McKennie goal vs Sassuolo showed the Old Lady still has a pretty good option when lobbing balls into the box. Unfortunately for the American, the rest of his team wasn’t up to his level on Wednesday. 

A hat-trick from Mason Mount propelled Chelsea to a 7-0 win over bottom side Norwich City in the Premier League on Saturday, extending their lead at the top of the table and demonstrating they still had firepower despite injuries to their strikers.

Chelsea defeated Swedish opposition Malmö in the Champions League on Wednesday 4-0 in the pouring London rain but suffered a pair of injuries as Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner both left the game early. The Lukaku and Werner injuries took place in the first half.

Lukaku was substituted out after his ankle was caught in a challenge by a Malmö defender. Later on, Werner was sprinting for a ball over the top and pulled up grabbing at his hamstring.

There’s nothing quite like a Europa League match at 8:30 a.m. on a Tuesday between two Americans, I guess. Though not on the normal Thursday night timing, Celtic’s match with Ferencváros brought the same eccentricity you expect from a Europa League game. 

A heavy workload for Chelsea's international players may have contributed to their lack of freshness on the pitch in recent games, manager Thomas Tuchel said on Tuesday, but the German backed them to rise to the challenge of competing on all fronts.

Pulisic Injury Update

Tuchel added Christian Pulisic remains unavailable through injury. The American forward has not featured for Chelsea since the opening day of the season against Crystal Palace after suffering an ankle injury during the international break.

BARCELONA - Ansu Fati marked his first start in almost a year by scoring one goal and creating another as Barcelona came from behind to beat Valencia 3-1 in LaLiga at Camp Nou on Sunday.

Despite being allowed a full capacity crowd for the first time since March 2020, Barça's ground was only half full — and those in attendance were silenced after five minutes as José Gayà's long-range strike swerved into the far corner.

JOSÉ GAYÁ GOLAZO

The 2021 Golden Boy finalists list was revealed on Friday and USMNT star Gio Reyna’s name is on the list. The Golden Boy is an annual award voted on by 30 different journalists to determine the best under-21 player in Europe. 

The Golden Boy was created in 2003 and has been won by notable names like Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland. An American has never won the award before.

Reyna is the third American in the last four years to make the cut as a finalist for the honor. Here are the players he will be competing with this year.