USMNT players in the 2023-24 Champions League, Europa, Europa Conference knockout rounds
Five teams with USMNT players are preparing for the knockout rounds in the 2023-24 Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League. You can follow our regular roundups of how USMNT players are doing in Europe and Liga MX in our USMNT Players Abroad section and we have a list of all USMNT players with European and Liga MX clubs.
2023-24 Champions League round of 16
The Champions League returns on February 13 with the opening games in some of the round of 16 series that will run through March 13. With the staggered first-leg format, we won’t see the one remaining team with USMNT players until February 20. That’s when PSV opens its series with Borussia Dortmund at Philips Stadium in Eindhoven.
PSV has three USMNT players: defender Sergino Dest, midfielder Malik Tillman, and forward Ricardo Pepi. Dest is a regular starter with Tillman and Pepi subbing on in most Eredivisie games. PSV entered the 2023-24 Champions League in the third qualifying round, beating Sturm Graz. They made it to the group stage by knocking out Tillman’s old team Rangers in the play-off round. They finished second to Arsenal in group B, only losing their opening game at the Emirates Stadium.
In the Eredivisie, PSV has put together a ten-point lead over Feyenoord at the top of the table and is undefeated in league play so far this season. That includes a winning streak that ran from the start of the season until their 18th game when they drew at Utrecht on January 21. They exited the KNVB Beker domestic cup competition in the round of 16 at Feyenoord on January 24.
With Gio Reyna finishing the season on loan to Nottingham Forest, Borussia Dortmund no longer has a USMNT player in the squad for the Champions League knockout round.
2023-24 Europa League knockout round playoffs
The Europa League knockout round playoffs begin on February 15 and conclude on the 22. This round has the Europa League group stage runners-up playing the Champions League 3rd-place teams that dropped to the Europa League knockout round. The Europa League group stage winners advanced directly to the round of 16 that begins on March 7. Simplifying things for our preview, there are no teams with USMNT players among the group winners or the 2nd-place finishers, and only Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah’s AC Milan finished 3rd in the Champions League group stage.
AC Milan begins its Europa League journey at home to Ligue 1 club Rennes. They got to the Europa League knockout round after finishing three points behind Borussia Dortmund and tied on points with 2nd-place PSG in group F of the Champions League. PSG held the goal difference tiebreaker +1 to -3, a tough end to AC Milan’s run in Europe’s top club tournament. In Serie A, AC Milan is in 3rd-place behind Inter Milan and Juventus and with a ten-point lead over 4th-place Atalanta. They exited the Coppa Italia at home to Atalanta in the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia.
Pulisic and Musah regularly play for AC Milan and both should be key parts of getting to the round of 16.
2023-24 Europa Conference League knockout round playoffs
It’s no surprise that the third-tier European club competition also uses the Europa League system for the opening round of the knockout stage. Once again, the Europa Conference League group winners are already in the round of 16 while the Europa Conference League runners-up and the Europa League 3rd-place teams meet in the knockout round playoffs. There’s a club with USMNT players in each of those three categories. Owen Otasowie’s Club Brugge won group D and will wait until February 23 to learn who they’ll playing the round of 16 on March 7 and 14.
The runners-up category has Timmy Chandler‘s Eintracht playing Belgian Pro League club Union Saint-Gilloise away on February 15 and at home on February 22. Eintracht is currently 6th in the Bundesliga, four points ahead of 7th-place Freiburg after 21 rounds. They exited the DFB Pokal at FC Saarbrucken in the round of 16 on December 6, 2023. Chandler and Aaronson are usually on the bench for Eintracht in Bundesliga games.
Johnny Cardoso had yet to make his move from Brazil’s Internacional when Real Betis was working its way to a 2nd-place finish in Europa Conference League group C. Real Betis finished behind group winners Rangers and 2nd-place Sparta Prague. Cardoso’s move to La Liga was no surprise, considering how important he was in an Internacional squad that made it to the 2023 Copa Libertadores semifinals. Since joining Real Betis at the end of December, he has turned into a regular for La Liga games. Real Betis exited the Copa del Rey at Alaves in the round of 32 on January 6.
Photo by Fabrizio Carabelli – SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire – ISIPhotos.com