Performance of top Canadian talent in Champions League bodes well for next year's men's World Cup

The Champions League gave Canadian soccer fans every emotion this week: There was Alphonso Davies, running in wild celebration after his winning goal for Bayern Munich; there was Alistair Johnston, in his soaked-through Celtic jersey, flat on his back on the grass. 

There is so much more to come. 

After Friday's Round of 16 draw, Davies and Bayern will now face Bundesliga rival Leverkusen in a home-and-away series in March.

And Canadian striker Jonathan David, whose French side Lille earned an automatic berth to the latter stages after a sterling league phase, will take on Dortmund. David has six goals in eight Champions League games this season.

As tantalizing as those meetings might be, they'll be hard-pressed to surpass the thrill that Davies and Johnston, national teammates turned duelling left and right backs, have already provided. It was almost surreal to see two Canadians play pivotal roles in such an all-world contest, fighting for territory on the same flank.

After Bayern narrowly won the first leg in Glasgow, 2-1, Celtic carried hopes of an upset along with their boots to last Tuesday's return leg in Munich.

Those hopes became something more like belief after Nicolas Kühn put the visitors ahead in the 63rd minute to even the aggregate score.

Johnston had been immense to that point for Celtic, playing one of the best games of his professional life — making tackles and clearances and marshalling his fellow defenders against an increasingly desperate Bayern attack.That's when Davies stepped onto the pitch.

He'd missed the first leg with a hamstring injury and didn't start the second. But when Bayern fell behind and risked a shock elimination, manager Vincent Kompany asked his star defender to do for his club what he has often done for his country: come to the rescue.

In the dying seconds of injury time, Davies pounced.

He did what strikers normally do, following a long shot in, and after Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel made a diving stop, the rebound spilled toward a charging Davies.

A defender attempted a sliding clearance, but the ball clattered into Davies before tumbling into the net.

For Celtic, the 1-1 tie was also a 3-2 aggregate loss. An exhausted Johnston, a step too far from the decisive play to react, could act only as a witness to his own heartbreak, as though he were watching another man's drama unfold.

"It's vivid right now, and it's tough to put into words," he said after. "It was a heroic performance from everyone out there… We held our own."

Davies, meanwhile, tore his way to the front of a parade of his ecstatic teammates, straight into the Round of 16.

"On to the next one," he said with a wide smile after.

It's been a tumultuous season for Canada's captain, who ended speculation about his professional future earlier this month after he signed an extension at Bayern that could keep him with the German giants until 2030.

He also suffered his hamstring injury, his second extended absence this season, part of a worrisome trend when it comes to his durability. He's missed more than 300 days and 60 professional and international matches since 2020.

But for the moment, at least, Davies is healthy again and, along with an ascendant David, moving closer to the hottest lights of soccer's global attention. 

Canada will co-host the men's World Cup next summer with the U.S. and Mexico. Having three members of the national team in Champions League knockout games — and two move on to the Round of 16 — means that out of all the emotions Canadian soccer fans experienced this week, excitement should be first among them.

It's starting to feel like the best talents Canada has ever produced are reaching the heights of their powers at the same electrifying time.

It's starting to feel like what comes next can't come soon enough.