USMNT abroad: Christian Pulisic and Chelsea advance in Champions League

Chelsea successfully advanced to the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds as USMNT star Christian Pulisic will look to star in the knockout stages.

The decisive day of the UEFA Champions League group stage occurred mid-week as United States Men’s National Team star Christian Pulisic and Chelsea faced Lille on the final matchday. A loss would have meant Sergino Dest and Ajax could advance depending on their result against Valencia.

In the end, it was Pulisic’s club who finished second in the group and advanced to the knockout phase. The midfielder played 62 minutes in the 2-1 win against Lille as Dest entered at halftime in a 1-0 defeat to Valencia.

Pulisic will get the chance to help Chelsea’s quest towards the quarter-finals with the club making its first appearance in the knockout phase under Frank Lampard. Despite the mid-week victory, Chelsea were unable to replicate their form against Bournemouth as they lost again in the Premier League. Pulisic played 65 minutes in the 1-0 loss.

In the Europe League, USMNT defender John Brooks and Wolfsburg advanced out of their group to the knockout rounds. He did not play in the club’s last fixture in the Europe League but did play all 90 minutes of a 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund.

Meanwhile, in the UEFA Youth League, under-17 star Gio Reyna scored two goals for Borussia Dortmund against Slavia Prague.

How the rest fared

• Weston McKennie started the match for Schalke against Eintracht Frankfurt but left in the first half with a separated shoulder injury. Timothy Chandler played all 90 minutes for Frankfurt in the 1-0 loss to Schalke.
• Zack Steffen got the start in net for Fortuna Düsseldorf as they lost 3-0 to RB Leipzig.
• Haji Wright played the first half of VVV Venlo’s 2-1  defeat to PEC Zwolle.
• Tyler Boyd played all 90 minutes of Besiktas’ 4-0 loss to Wolves in the Europa Leauge. Besiktas failed to advance to the knockout rounds.
• Matt Miazga played all 90 minutes of Reading’s 1-1 draw with Barnsley mid-week but was kept out of the weekend fixture with an injury.

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• Tim Ream played all 90 minutes in both Fulham’s losses in the EFL Championship over the course of the week. They lost 2-1 to Preston North End mid-week and then 1-0 to Brentford on the weekend.
• Antonee Robinson played all 90 minutes in both of Wigan Athletic’s 1-1 draws. They drew with West Bromwich Albion and Huddersfield Town.
• Erik Palmer-Brown played all 90 minutes of Austria Wien’s 1-1 draw with Wolfsberger.
• Niko Hamalainen played all 90 minutes for Kilmarnock as they fell 1-0 to Ross County.
• Andrija Novakovich went 56 minutes for Frosinone as they won 2-0 over Pescara.
• Emmanuel Sabbi entered in the 56th minute for Hobro as they drew 1-1 against Christian Cappis and Brondby.

Check back next week for a conclusive round-up of all that happened with USMNT players throughout world football.