The 2024-25 Champions League has kicked off and, with its expanded format, the competition could feature more United States internationals than ever before.
In total, there are 12 USMNT stars playing at senior level for sides in Europe’s top club tournament this term, from past winners to youngsters lining up before he iconic anthem for the first time.
Here are five US players to watch in the Champions League this season…
Yunus Musah
AC Milan boast the biggest American soccer star of them all in the form of Christian Pulisic. But the 25-year-old attacking midfielder, who scored against Liverpool in the Rossoneri’s opening defeat to Liverpool this month, has already proven his ability to thrive at the top continental level, having won the competition with Chelsea in 2021.
Instead, it is team-mate and international colleague Yunus Musah who is the most intriguing American player on show this term for the San Siro club.
An €18 million signing from Valencia in the summer of 2023, the dynamic midfielder played in five of Milan’s six group-stage fixtures in last season’s Champions League. But this season’s augmented schedule will allow for the New York-born former England youth international to further showcase his vast talents at the highest echelon of the club game.
Musah was an unused substitute in the 3-1 home loss to Liverpool, but the 21-year-old will be hopeful of being heavily involved as Milan seek to overcome last season’s early exit after having reached the semi-finals the previous year.
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Weston McKennie
The first week of Champions League fixtures for the 2024-25 season included a game between Juventus and PSV that set a record for the most American players in a single match in the competition’s history.
Five USMNT internationals were on show at Allianz Stadium in Turin. But only one of them scored.
Weston McKennie looked destined to leave Juventus this summer, first offered up as a makeweight in the Serie A side’s move to sign Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa and then linked with Fiorentina.
But McKennie stayed and, having won over new manager Thiago Motta, has even earned a contract extension. He made his first start of the season against PSV and scored his first Juventus goal in almost two years.
The 25-year-old central midfielder will no doubt be a player new USMNT boss Mauricio Pochettino will be keeping a keen eye on this term with a view to judging whether the
former Schalke man – who has earned 56 senior international caps – should remain a key figure in the States’ middle third.
Sergino Dest
Three of the five American players on the field in Turin this past week were representing PSV – Malik Tillman, Richard Ledezma and Ricardo Pepi, with winger Tim Weah the other US star who turned out for Juventus.
Had the Dutch champions’ star right-back been available for selection, there’d have been a sixth American on display.
Sergino Dest is unlikely to be back in action until the later rounds of the group stage, having sustained a torn ACL back in April.
But when he does return, the 23-year-old will be keen to use the competition to prove a point.
After failing to lock down a regular role at Barcelona following a 2020 move to the Catalan giants, and with an unfruitful loan to AC Milan during the 2022-23 season, the Netherlands-born former Ajax youngster joined PSV on loan last summer.
With two goals and six assists in 25 games, Dest was crucial to the Eindhoven club’s Eredivisie title triumph last term and, despite the serious injury he suffered late in the season, PSV moved to sign him permanently as a free agent this summer.
When he gets back to full fitness, the 33-cap US full-back will be eager to show his past paymasters that he can thrive at the highest level.
Auston Trusty
Centre-back Auston Trusty signed for Arsenal in January 2022, but it is only now, after joining Celtic this summer, that the 26-year-old is experiencing his first taste of Champions League action.
A standout prospect with the Philadelphia Union and the Colorado Rapids in MLS, the Gunners snapped up the young defender for around £1.5 million. But Trusty never made a first-team appearance for the north London club, immediately loaned back to the Rapids for half a season before spending the entire 2022-23 campaign on loan with Birmingham City.
He was sold to newly promoted Sheffield United the following summer and, although the switch to Bramall Lane gave him regular top-flight football, he became part of the most porous defence in Premier League history with the Blades.
So now, having signed for Celtic, where he forms a central defensive partnership with fellow USMNT international Cameron Carter-Vickers, Trusty has the opportunity to prove he can deliver on the promise of his early career and thrive in Europe’s top tournament.
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Folarin Balogun
Striker Folarin Balogun was one of few USMNT players to come out of the host nation’s embarrassing group-stage exit at the Copa America earlier this summer with any credit.
The former Arsenal poacher scored twice in three appearances at the tournament, making himself the top contender to fulfil a longstanding need for the United States in the centre-forward position.
But Balogun has endured a more difficult time at club level over the last year. After a breakout, 22-goal campaign on loan with Reims, he signed for Monaco in a €30 million deal last summer. Thus far, he has been unable to replicate his best scoring form at the Stade Louis II, with just eight goals in 36 games for the Ligue 1 side, and he lost his place in the starting line-up over the second half of last season.
The 23-year-old former England youth international made a 21-minute cameo in Monaco’s 2-1 victory over Barcelona in the first round of Champions League fixtures this season.
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