At the time, Tim Weah came up big for Juventus, but the U.S. men’s national team star’s highlight on Wednesday in the Netherlands will go down as a mere footnote on a night that’s ultimately a big disappointment.
Weah scored a goal that seemingly put Juventus on course for the UEFA Champions League round of 16, but a furious fightback from PSV Eindhoven dumped the Serie A power out of the competition in extra time, 4-3 on aggregate. It marks the second straight day that an Eredivisie club eliminated a Serie A one with multiple Americans involved after Feyenoord’s takedown of Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah’s AC Milan at the San Siro on Tuesday.
Prior to the defeat, Weah was positioned to be the hero. Playing as a right back as he often does for the Italian club, Weah ran onto a cleared corner kick in the 64th minute and sublimely connected with the ball from 25 yards out.
The linesman initially called the sequence off, spotting an offside Juventus teammate (Lloyd Kelly) on the initial corner kick. However, VAR intervened and left the center official to deem that Kelly did not influence the play in any phase, allowing Weah to become the fifth USMNT player to score in this season’s Champions League. His teammate, Weston McKennie, scored his third goal of the competition in the first leg vs. PSV, while Pulisic and PSV’s Malik Tillman and Ricardo Pepi also found the back of the net in the League Phase (Tillman, Pepi and PSV’s U.S. international right back Sergiño Dest all missed the knockout playoff with respective injuries).
Timothy Weah’s first #UCL goal is an absolute THUNDERBOLT to restore Juve’s aggregate lead 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/E7ikJnIfpJ
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 19, 2025
The goal was also the 13th scored by an American in this year’s tournament, extended a record the contingent set last week.
Weah’s strike put Juventus back in the lead in their two-legged tie against Dutch side PSV, which had U.S.-eligible Richy Ledezma starting at the opposite right back spot. PSV pulled ahead 2-1 on the day and even 3-3 on aggregate 11 minutes later, though, with Ismael Saibari scoring from in close and ultimately sending the match to extra time. And in the first half of the extra period, PSV’s Ryan Flamingo powered home a close-range finish to make it 4-3 on aggregate and send Juventus on their way out.
Ryan Flamingo cleans up the chaos in the box for PSV! 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/18npcBBy4S
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 19, 2025
PSV advance to face either Inter Milan or Arsenal in the last 16, with the draw set for Friday, while for Juve, it’s another European adventure cut short.
(Top photo: Pau Barrena – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
