September may be a depressing time for many people since the summer is ending, and schools alongside the cold weather are back. But it’s an exciting time for soccer fans as the Champions League returns.

What makes this Champions League season even more special is there is a format change.

Throw away the old format with the 32-team group stage and knockout rounds. This new format features 36 teams with a league phase. Then, there is a preliminary knockout phase and then the knockout phase.

Another exciting part for the American fans is this season, up to 12 Americans can play in the tournament. 

They are— Malik Tillman, Sergiño Dest, Ricardo Pepi, and Richy Ledezma (PSV). Weston McKennie and Tim Weah (Juventus). Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah (AC Milan). Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty (Celtic). Folarin Balogun (Monaco). Gio Reyna (Dortmund).

The injured Reyna and Dest didn’t feature in the matchday one, while Musah remained on the bench. Other nine Americans all played their part, and there were two records broken.

The first record happened in the Juventus vs PSV game. Up to five Americans played, which is the highest amount of Americans featured in a Champions League match.

Then, both McKennie and Pulisic scored for their respective clubs, another record as two Americans scored on the same day in the Champions League for the first time ever.

It’s good to see more and more Americans playing in this prestigious tournament. Let’s take a closer look at how each players performed.

PSV: This is the club that has the most amount of Americans that can feature in the Champions League, and it’s not a surprise why they have brought in many of them. PSV’s Sporting Director is Earnie Stewart, former USMNT star who recently worked as Sporting Director for U.S. Soccer.

Unfortunately, they were no match for Juventus in the first game. Tillman had a tough game, Ledezma showed his defensive weaknesses in an unfamiliar position, and Pepi was again given little time to make an impact.

Juventus: Juve’s last three games in the Series A all ended in 0-0 draws. However, they showed there is still a massive gap between the best team in the Netherlands and a top team in Italy.

McKennie, who was strongly rumored to leave the club in the summer, not only started but scored a goal. He continues to prove to Juve that he can be a valuable asset for them. Weah, who just returned from an injury, made a limited appearance.

Milan: Pulisic has been tearing up for the Italian giants, so much so that many USMNT fans have started labelling him as “world class”.

He scored just few minutes into the game against Liverpool to give them a lead, and followed it up with a goal in the weekend against Inter. Unfortunately, Milan were outplayed by Liverpool and gave up three goals to lose their first Champions League game of the season.

Musah remained rooted on the bench. It seems like he will be given limited opportunities to impress at the club under Paulo Fonseca, so he will have to show what he’s capable of in those minutes.

Celtic: The Scottish champions Celtic hosted the Slovakian champions Slovan Bratislava for their Champions League opener and had an easy work— beating them 5-1.

Carter-Vickers started and played until the 83rd minute. Who’s his replacement? Fellow American defender Trusty.

It will be nice to see the pair play together at the heart of Celtic defense this season. For now, it seems like they will rotate.

Monaco: Monaco returned to the Champions League for the first time since 2018 and what a return it was, beating Barcelona at home.

Barça did have a man sent off early in the first half, but Monaco still impressed with their young players.

One of the young players is American striker Balogun, a 40 million signing. He’s lost his starting spot for now but he came on when the game was 1-1 and made an impact, both on the ball and off of it.

Him keeping Barça defenders occupied led an opening for Monaco’s winning goal. Balogun also seemed like he won a penalty towards the end but it was chalked off after VAR intervened. 

The Champions League will return next week. Let's see what the Americans can do in the matchday two.