Christian Pulisic was again the knock-out king for Chelsea, while Juventus were reminded of their pitiful mediocrity without Weston McKennie as the Champions League was whittled down to its final eight teams.
Tyler Adams and RB Leipzig have advanced to the Europa League quarterfinal by default, following UEFA and FIFA’s announcements on Monday that all Russian clubs and national teams are suspended from international competition.
Decisions by the UEFA Executive Committee to force Russian and Ukrainian clubs competing in UEFA competitions to hold home games at neutral sites will have some immediate and possible knock-on effects for American players.
The matchups for the final 16 of the Europa Conference league were set on Friday, sending Konrad de la Fuente and his Marseille teammates to neighboring Switzerland to face Basel.
Konrad de la Fuente finally opened his scoring account for Marseille as they easily advanced, while Cameron Carter Vickers was mercifully given a rest in Celtic’s listless loss in Norway.
Christian Pulisic once again scored in a Champions League knockout game to lift Chelsea over Lille, while Weston McKennie appeared to suffer an ankle knock in Juventus’ draw at Villarreal.
With four Americans playing on European League teams, Thursday was not the best of nights with only one registering a victory and none of them putting in 90-minute shifts.
Brenden Aaronson was the only American in action in the Champions League knockout games this week, but he made the most of it, assisting on Salzburg’s goal in their near-miss draw against giants Bayern.
The new third-tier competition in Europe enters the knockout phase for the first time, with Monday’s draw setting February’s international travel schedule for a trio of Yanks, including Richard Ledezma, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Konrad de la Fuente.
The eight parings for next years Preliminary Knockout Round of the Europa League final stage was set with Monday afternoon’s draw, handing all three Americans entering at this stage potentially tricky paths to the final 16.
