Weston McKennie, the 22-year-old Texan, has a lot of egos to deal with while on loan at Juventus. Cristiano Ronaldo obviously looms large in any locker room, but you know folks like Álvaro Morata, Paulo Dybala, Adrien Rabiot, Aaron Ramsey and Juan Cuadrado want to see their share of the ball. Remarkably, McKennie aided two of the largest personalities on the squad without even touching the ball. And yes, we’re calling it a Weston McKennie assist, because America god damnit.
Juventus isn’t likely to struggle to qualify for the Round of 16, even after a loss to Barcelona last week. But seeing Real Madrid struggle, you know Andrea Pirlo wants to make damn sure Juve takes care of business. With a trip to beautiful Budapest to face Ferencváros, his charges did just that with a 4-1 victory on Wednesday. But the match wasn’t put away until after McKennie was brought on as a 53rd-minute sub for Ramsey with the Old Lady nursing a one-goal lead.
McKennie is a versatile young player, able to slot in pretty much anywhere on the pitch from defense to attack. On Wednesday he played on the right side of a midfield three and wasn’t shy about advancing forward when able. His job isn’t to score the goals — Juve has plenty goal scorers — but to provide the platform from which the forwards can attack.
About seven minutes after joining the match, McKennie played his role perfectly: Setting up Morata and gifting Ronaldo an assist — all without touching the ball via a perfect dummy.
Weston McKennie Assist vs. Ferencváros
He is having fun on his 100th appearance, Alvaro Morata gets his second.
What a beautiful finish. pic.twitter.com/nk0yxbCsPw— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) November 4, 2020
Job done for McKennie: Ensure the victory, help Ronaldo pad his stats and allow Morata to score a goal that wasn’t called back for offside. Ignore the buffoon British commentator who says late in the highlight that he doesn’t think McKennie meant to stepover the ball and was stretching to get to the ball, it was clearly a genious bit of play from an American.
Morata actually got two goals on his 100th appearance for the Bianconeri (over two stints; Pirlo was still playing the last time he was in Turin).
No VAR! Alvaro Morata makes it 1-0 for Juventus.
What a way show up on your 100th appearance. pic.twitter.com/h9ExUYFQ80— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) November 4, 2020
Paulo Dybala added two more goals, though the second was officially given as an own goal. Both were courtesy shocking mistakes from goalkeeper Dénes Dibusz.
Mask on! Paulo Dybala gets himself on the scoresheet.
It's 3-0 Juventus. pic.twitter.com/5FkLRuIwxu— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) November 4, 2020
¡Doblete de Dybalaaaa! ¡Doblete de Dybalaaaa!
Ferencvaros 0-3 @juventusfcGalavisión
En vivo sin log in: https://t.co/52JsYYGgAq#FerencvarosJuve | #UCL | #ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/P9xfV4trOR— TUDN USA (@TUDNUSA) November 4, 2020
For those keeping track at home, that’s 1-0 Juve for the first 53 minutes without McKennie and 3-1 Juve for the remaining 37 minutes with McKennie. (Ferencváros scored a late consolation prize for the home fans to celebrate heartily.)
Juventus now sits on six points, three back of Barcelona’s nine, but the other two clubs in Group G are on one point after three matches, so it looks like this will be a pretty straightforward advancement for both of the big clubs.
