Gio Reyna can let his feet do the talking in the Dortmund-Chelsea Champions League clash

At times, the Reyna/Berhalter scandal has felt like the ultimate American soccer story: a self-centered set of parents complaining to their son’s team administrators that he doesn’t play enough.

But it has played out on a global scale, and has attracted worldwide attention: from Qatar in the World Cup to Germany’s Bundesliga, where Gio Reyna plays his club soccer for Borussia Dortmund.

For anyone who would like the scandal to fizzle out, it hasn’t yet. In fact, just when things fell to a simmer amid U.S. Soccer’s external investigation, the midfielder sparked a new eruption.

In Dortmund’s first three Bundesliga games after the World Cup break, the 20-year-old came off the bench to score goals — including two big-time game-winnners. After the first, on Jan. 22, Reyna celebrated by making a talking gesture, putting his fingers in his ears, and making a shushing gesture.

Three days later, he kept it simpler with a No. 1-finger salute to the sky. But it was an even bigger goal, coming in the 93rd minute.

The third goal came on Feb. 4, capping off a 5-1 Dortmund rout. But he put his finger to his ear again, this time to listen to the roar of the home crowd.

So, no, people choosing sides, criticizing others, and arguing about it all isn’t going anywhere. The spotlight is about to get even brighter, because Dortmund starts a two-game series with English power Chelsea in the UEFA men’s Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday.

» READ MORE: Cindy Cone says U.S. Soccer’s Reyna-Berhalter investigation should finish in ‘the coming weeks’

It’s not the biggest series on the board. Paris Saint-Germain vs. Bayern Munich and Real Madrid vs. Liverpool are the top two, with AC Milan vs. Tottenham Hotspur also up there for some fans.

But in the United States, Dortmund-Chelsea will get a lot of attention. Both games will air on CBS’s big broadcast network, with Dortmund hosting the opener and Chelsea hosting March 7.

Univision will have both games of the series on cable channels UniMás (which is also over the air in Philadelphia on channel 28) and TUDN. And there will be plenty of live streaming access, in English on CBS’s Paramount+ and in Spanish on Univision’s ViX+.

Among the many analysts across the networks who will discuss the series, one has personal experience with a son playing on the big stage. CBS’s Peter Schmeichel, a former Manchester United star, is the father of Kasper, currently the first-choice goalkeeper for the French club Nice, and nationally, for Denmark.

A few days ago, Schmeichel and fellow CBS regular Jamie Carragher talked with The Inquirer about the Reyna scandal and the upcoming big games.

“As a parent, you try to not dominate, not say do this, do that, but try to steer your child in the right direction,” said Schmeichel, who watched the U.S. in Qatar for beIN Sports and the BBC. “And, of course, one thing that I have been very careful with over the years is [whether] to interfere publicly. I’ve never ever wanted to make comments on anything.”

» READ MORE: United States to host 2024 Copa América soccer tournament

At least, not anything bad. When Kasper Schmeichel helped Leicester City to one of the all-time Premier League title triumphs in 2016, of course his father was going to celebrate.

“This is a moment where you can express some emotions and feelings about it,” Peter said. “Other than that, in good and bad times, I’ve kind of stayed in the background. But I’ve had my son on the phone in many different situations when it’s not going well, and you try to steer them in a direction where they get through the next day, or the next training session, the next game, whatever it is.”

The Reynas stayed in the background initially. When Gio’s mother Danielle, in conversation with U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart after being upset that then-U.S. manager Gregg Berhalter spoke on a World Cup incident about her son, revealed Berhalter’s 30-year-old intimate partner violence incident, she claimed she expected it to stay off the record.

But Stewart knew that couldn’t happen. He alerted his colleagues, and U.S. Soccer promptly hired outside lawyers for an investigation. Only after that did Danielle Reyna claim, in her public apology, that she realized that Stewart’s actions were correct.

Carragher, who also works for England’s Sky Sports, wasn’t at the World Cup. But watching from afar, he felt he recognized a familiar quandary.

“You do your best talking on the pitch, and that’s exactly what he’s done,” the former Liverpool star said. “Right now he’s just got to get his football head back on, move away from what’s happened over the last few months — I’m sure it would have been difficult for him as well. And let’s see the best version of Gio Reyna we know.”

» READ MORE: Claudio and Danielle Reyna, Gio’s parents, admit to disclosing incident to U.S. Soccer concerning Gregg Berhalter

If that version shows up against Chelsea, it will be a huge deal. It’s always a big deal when Dortmund plays English opponents in Europe, but this series is magnified by Chelsea’s recent huge spending spree.

Under new American owner Todd Boehly, the Blues have spent over $650 million on signings in the last two transfer windows. This winter, Chelsea splashed $107 million on Ukrainian winger Mykhalo Mudryk, a British record $132 million on Argentine World Cup-winning midfielder Enzo Fernández, and eight-figure sums ranging from $11.8 million to $40.7 million on six other players.

Chelsea will undoubtedly take the field with the better talent, but will it mesh into the better team? Or will Dortmund’s potentially stronger chemistry — including elite prospects Reyna, Jude Bellingham and Karim Adeyemi — steal an upset?

“It’s just whether those players within that team at Borussia Dortmund can produce that bit of magic,” Carragher said. “We know Chelsea’s players can be strong individuals, but can they match them spirit and team-wise and organization wise as well?”

Given CBS’s long history of airing soap operas on weekday afternoons, it’s only fitting that the Champions League serves up a soccer one.

» READ MORE: What does Jesse Marsch’s firing from Leeds mean for U.S. Soccer, American players abroad?