A lot of American action in the UEFA Europa League this matchday, with the highlight being the match between Tyler Adams’ AFC Bournemouth and Christian Pulisic & Yunus Musah’s AC Milan.
AFC Bournemouth 3-0 AC Milan
The Cherries comfortably beat The Rossoneri 3-0 at Vitality Stadium. Tyler Adams played 61′ and caused Mike Maignan’s red card, which pushed the American midfielder inside the box in the 27th minute. Adams also completed 92 % of his passes, completed two defensive contributions, and was not dribbled past once.
Justin Kluivert scored the first goal for the hosts via a penalty in the 8th minute, and Marcus Tavernier also scored the penalty committed by Maignan over Adams in the 32nd minute.
Towards the end of the match, Amine Adli scored the third goal in the 84th minute to settle the final 3-0 score.
Yunus Musah started and played the whole match. He completed all 23 of his passes, had four defensive contributions, but had a quiet game overall.
Christian Pulisic was an unused substitute for the visitors.
Bournemouth sit third place with three out of three wins and will travel to the Czech Republic to face Sparta Praha next month. AC Milan drop to 24th place with three points and will host Ferencváros next.
Juventus 2-2 Stade Rennais
Another American face-off in the Europa League, it was Weston McKennie vs. Bryan Reynolds this time, which ended in a draw.
Zeki Çelik scored early into the game for Juventus, but Mousa Al-Tamari equalized for the French side a few minutes later thanks to Bryan Reynolds’ assist.
Right before halftime, Boulaye Dia scored a penalty kick for Rennes, but Nick Woltemade leveled the score in the 67th minute, again from the penalty spot.
Weston McKennie played the full match and completed 73 % of his passing, won five of his defensive duels, was not dribbled past once, and completed three defensive contributions.
Bryan Reynolds played the whole game as well and was a key player thanks to his assist in the first half. However, he only had one defensive contribution and only completed 63 % of his passing.
AZ Alkmaar is up next for McKennie and Juventus; Stade Rennais will host Olympiacos.
OFI 0-2 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Malik Tillman started and completed an assist in Leverkusen’s 2-0 win at Crete against OFI. He completed 90 % of his passing, attempted two shots, and completed five key passes. He was eventually subbed off for Mousa Diaby in the 74th minute.
Jonas Hoffmann scored both goals for the German side, and Tillman assisted the second one.
Bayer Leverkusen sit second place after this win, and will face off against Timothy Weah’s Olympique Marseille next month.
Besiktas 2-2 Crystal Palace
Chris Richards played the entire game in a very exciting match against one of Türkiye’s giants. He had five defensive contributions, won five of his duels, was not dribbled past, and completed 86 % of his passing.
Wilfred Ndidi scored first for Besiktas right before halftime, but Yeremi Pino and Jean-Philippe Mateta scored early into the second half to turn it around. In the 73rd minute, Junior Olaitan scored to end the game 2-2.
Pierre Sage’s men sit in the 15th spot with 4 points and host Hoffenheim next.
Notes
Timothy Weah was subbed on in the 83rd minute in Olympique Marseille’s 1-0 defeat against Sturm Graz in Austria.
Pellegrino Matarazzo‘s Real Sociedad completely hammered Lillestrom with a 6-0 win at Åråsen Stadion in Norway.
Tanner Tessmann was subbed off at halftime in Olympique Lyonnais’ 3-0 defeat against Hoffenheim.
Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty were both absent in Celtic’s 1-2 defeat against RC Celta at home.
In the Conference League, Erik Palmer-Brown went the distance in Panathinaikos’ comfortable 5-1 win in Kazakhstan against Kairat Almaty. The American center-back saw the yellow card right before halftime.
Ian Hoffmann played the full 90 minutes in Mjällby’s 1-1 draw against Iberia.
JJ Williams played the last 15 minutes in Hearts’ 2-0 defeat against Trabzonspor away.
