An American player featuring for the reigning European champions in the UEFA Champions League?
It might actually happen on Wednesday.
Current UEFA Champions League holders Bayern Munich have confirmed that 18-year-old German-American attacker Julian Green will be in the 18-man roster for a group-stage UCL match on the road at CSKA Moscow (noon ET, Fox Sports 2).
Green, who was born in Tampa, will be taking the place of injured striker Mario Mandzukic, according to Bayern Munich's official site.
The 18-year-old Green was recently called up for training by USMNT manager Jurgen Klinsmann while the team prepared for two November friendlies against Austria and Scotland, but the player eventually declined the USA's call and instead joined the Germany Under-19 side for friendlies against France during the same FIFA window.
Had Green joined the USMNT, he would not have been eligible to appear in an official match for Klinsmann's squad since he would need to apply for a one-time association switch after previously featuring for Germany's youth teams in official matches.
"We are going to give Julian an opportunity to breathe," Klinsmann stated on U.S. Soccer's website. "All of these conversations and attention can be a bit overwhelming for a young player, so we decided to take the foot off the pedal and let him focus on his work at Bayern.
"We had a great conversation. He’s a mature young man and he clearly has a bright future. I told him that when the time is right, the door is wide open."
Green has been tearing it up on Bayern's fourth-division reserve side in the Regionalliga, after hitting consecutive hat tricks in two preseason friendlies for the senior side.
He has previously appeared for the US Under-18 team in September 2012, scoring a goal in his lone friendly match in a 4-2 win over the Netherlands.
