{"id":479863,"date":"2026-02-17T04:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T04:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479863\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T04:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T04:46:11","slug":"mckennie-we-hope-galatasaray-wont-boo-juventus-because-of-yildiz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479863\/","title":{"rendered":"McKennie: \u2018We hope Galatasaray won\u2019t boo Juventus because of Yildiz\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weston McKennie has shared his thoughts ahead of Juventus\u2019s upcoming Champions League play-off round tie against Galatasaray, has commented on his contract status and has joked that he hopes the passionate supporters in Turkey will go easy on the Bianconeri due to the presence of Kenan Yildiz.<\/p>\n

McKennie joined head coach Luciano Spalletti for the customary pre-match press conference<\/a> on Monday evening ahead of Tuesday\u2019s Champions League play-off first leg against Galatasaray in Istanbul.<\/p>\n

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The Bianconeri finished the league phase in 13th place, three points shy of a spot in the top eight and a guaranteed place in the round of 16. That means that they will have to beat Galatasaray over two legs if they are to make it into the hat for the round of 16.<\/p>\n

McKennie: \u2018We want to win because we are Juventus\u2019\"\"<\/p>\n

PARMA, ITALY \u2013 FEBRUARY 01: Weston McKennie of Juventus celebrates scoring his team\u2019s second goal during the Serie A match between Parma Calcio 1913 and Juventus FC at Stadio Ennio Tardini on February 01, 2026 in Parma, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a really important game for us, we want to win every game because we are Juventus,\u201d McKennie told the media during his pre-match press conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There have been suggestions that McKennie could play as a false nine on Tuesday evening given that Jonathan David, Dusan Vlahovic and Arkadiusz Milik are all unavailable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a player who is always available for my team. I play where the coach wants me to play, even in goal,\u201d the American said.<\/p>\n

And on his contract, which is due to expire at the end of the current campaign, McKennie said: \u201cWe\u2019ll think about it later because I\u2019m here to win a game.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s something that\u2019s between Juventus and my agent. I just have to think about the work on the pitch and my agent will think about the renewal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Weston McKennie celebrates his goal for Juventus against Pafos in the Champions League (@juventusfc)<\/p>\n

McKennie was also given an opportunity to share his thoughts after the controversial Derby d\u2019Italia between Juventus and Inter in Serie A over the weekend, but preferred to keep his focus on the task at hand against Galatasaray.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a bit difficult when these things happen, We have to just focus on tomorrow and we\u2019re only thinking about winning. We want to give our best.\u201d<\/p>\n

And on the atmosphere that awaits the Old Lady in Istanbul and whether Yildiz has told the squad how to deal with it, McKennie said: \u201cHe\u2019s talked about that and I played here many years ago as well, so I know what the atmosphere and the fans are like. We hope they won\u2019t boo us too much because of Kenan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Weston McKennie has shared his thoughts ahead of Juventus\u2019s upcoming Champions League play-off round tie against Galatasaray, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[194254,49,48,568,10822,10823,72597,2679,31019,194253,561,82,194251,194252],"class_list":{"0":"post-479863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-arkadiusz-milik","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-champions-league","12":"tag-galatasaray","13":"tag-inter","14":"tag-jonathan-david","15":"tag-juventus","16":"tag-kenan-yildiz","17":"tag-parma-calcio","18":"tag-soccer","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-weston-mckennie","21":"tag-yildiz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}