Juventus Lucky To Have Weston McKennie

Weston McKennie Juventus' winning actor against PSV in the Champions League (Instagram/@juventus).

Juventus were frustrated by the tough PSV Eindhoven defense until Weston McKennie broke the deadlock with a beautiful goal in the knockout playoff of the Champions League, Wednesday, February 12, 2025, early morning WIB.

The United States midfielder fired a hard shot into the upper right corner of the box in the 34th minute, after chaos.

"It was a good goal, although I think I scored a better goal against Barcelona in 2020. I was really lucky!"

"I am calm because last week in practice I scored a lot of goals. So, I feel quite confident."

"The important thing is not to score goals or provide assists, but to help the team win," McKennie told Sky Sport Italia.

McKennie's goal led Juventus to a 2-1 win over the tough Dutch side, with substitute Samuel Mbangula scoring a winning goal in the 82nd minute for his first goal in the Champions League.

26-year-old McKennie scored 11 goals in 58 games for the United States National Team and this is his third goal in the Champions League this season.

All of the goals were scored with his right foot, Interestingly, when he scored all those goals, Juventus won.

In the Champions League group stage, he scored against Manchester City and in the opening match also against PSV.

His seventh goal in the Champions League put McKennie in the ranks of elite Concacaf players.

He joined a group of selected players from the region, only losing to Javier Hernendez (14 goals/Mexico), Christian Pulisic (12/United States), past Yorke (11/Trinidad and Tobago), and Jonathan David (9/United States) in terms of goals scored in the European club's biggest tournament.

However, McKennie did not want to be happy and chose to stay grounded.

"My role is not important, I work for the team. We all work only for the squad, either as full-backs or midfielders."

"I played in a more central position tonight. However, the team always wanted to move forward and it was a team effort," said McKennie again.

The goal came after PSV was able to lock in a striker who is in his best form, Randal Kolo Muani - who has scored five goals in three games since joining the loan status of Paris Saint-Germain.

McKennie isn't the only international United States player who is in his best form.

Timothy Weah threatened with some fine moves on the right, almost giving Kolo Muani a pass early in the first half and Mbangula early in the second half.

The host's audience fell silent in the 56th minute when veteran midfielder Ivan Perisic scored in the 56th minute.

Perisic was ridiculed by Juventus fans for playing seven years for Italy's rival Inter Milan, in 2015-2022, scoring 55 goals and winning Serie A in 2021 and the Coppa Italia a year later.

The draw has been a continuing curse this season for Juventus. They have drawn three of their eight matches in the Champions League group stage and 13 times from 24 matches in Serie A.

So, there was widespread relief, from fans to coach Thiago Motta, when Mbangula cleared the ball after goalkeeper Walter Benitez brushed off Francisco Conceicao's right-wing cross.

The victory is like an oase for Juventus which has been difficult to win even though they are also difficult to beat.