Weston McKennie’s impressive goalscoring run continued on Wednesday, this time scoring the crucial goal that ensured Juventus would take Galatasaray to extra time in the UEFA Champions League’s knockout phase playoffs before falling 7-5 on aggregate.
Juventus entered Wednesday’s second leg after a 5-2 defeat in Istanbul last week. They pulled one back in the first half thanks to Manuel Locatelli. Though Lloyd Kelly’s red card in the 49th minute complicated matters, Federico Gatti’s 70th-minute goal put the Turin-based side within touching distance of extra time. McKennie’s goal in the 82nd minute, though, ensured the hosts would get another 30 minutes to prove themselves in the hopes of reaching the round of 16.
The hosts earned a free kick on the left flank, the ball looping to the far end of the box, where Teun Koopmeiners was waiting. Koopmeiners, who scored a brace at Galatasaray last week, sent the ball near the opposite post, the ball sailing towards the goal line. McKennie had his eyes on the ball as soon as it neared Koopmeiners’ head and made a run to meet it at the post, and then got his head on the ball to ensure it landed in the back of the net.
Watch the strike below.
Galasaray turned things around in extra time and scored twice, first through Victor Osimhen’s goal shortly before the halftime break and then another from Barıs Alper Yilmaz in the 119th minute. The victors are now in the Champions League round of 16 for the first time in 12 years and are the first Turkish team since the 2017-18 season to get this far.
The goal was McKennie’s eighth of the season across all competitions for Juventus, the U.S. men’s national team midfielder already in the midst of a career-best goalscoring run. He played as a left wingback on Wednesday, which comes as little surprise for the team’s longtime utility player, but he has been in attack-minded roles since Luciano Spalletti became the coach last fall. Spalletti has showcased McKennie’s versatility even as attack remains the focus, once describing him as the “perfect central striker” and even inserting him there at Galatasaray last week.
McKennie finds his footing
Win or lose, it’s hard not to argue that the knockout phase playoffs were full of good news for the USMNT – McKennie’s goal comes a day after Johnny Cardoso scored for Atletico Madrid and a week after Folarin Balogun notched a brace for Monaco. Coupled with the fact that U.S. players across Europe are currently in fine form and others, like Bournemouth’s Tyler Adams and PSV’s Ricardo Pepi, are returning to the pitch after weeks-long injuries, it feels like the USMNT players are beginning to peak at just the right time as the World Cup nears.
McKennie, though, is perhaps the poster child for the USMNT players’ upward trajectory. The 27-year-old has made the rare transition from a mere regular in Juventus’ lineup to a central part of the team’s attack, Spalletti fully utilizing the American’s attacking skillset after a handful of predecessors chose otherwise. It has paid off in more ways than one – Juventus have added another dimension to their goalscoring operation, McKennie is useful from set-piece opportunities, and often makes impactful runs to score goals from close range. McKennie’s contributions are much-needed for a Juventus team that could use an out-and-out goalscorer, the American doing his best to make up the gaps.
From the player’s perspective, the goalscoring run is a signal that things have changed for the better in Turin. He has frequently been deemed surplus to requirements, only to stick around to make up the numbers and work his way back into the coach’s good graces. There was no adjustment period with Spalletti, though – not only has he been a regular fixture in the new coach’s team, Spalletti has gotten the best out of McKennie, no matter the task the player’s been assigned. Take Wednesday’s match as an example – McKennie regularly finds himself on the wing in Spalletti’s set-up, but he rarely plays as a left wingback for the new coach, though he remained an attacking force for a Juventus team in desperate need of goals. He created four chances from that position, his best game of the season in that sense, and later scored at the end of a set-piece sequence.
McKennie is expected to be back for the USMNT’s friendlies against Portugal and Belgium in March, likely to join the national team for the first time since October after head coach Mauriico Pochettino preferred the player settle in with Spalletti during the November international break. McKennie’s form is as great a form of vindication as Pochettino could receive for that choice, leaving the head coach with only good problems as a wide variety of players compete for World Cup roster spots – and starting roles. McKennie’s abilities in goal creation and end product leave Pochettino with just as many options as Spalletti to utilize the player’s versatility, both skills well-suited for the U.S. coach’s high-intensity, attack-minded style of play.
