US soccer star Lindsey Horan said playing in the Champions League rivals 'the feeling of playing in a World Cup'

• Lindsey Horan has joined ranks with French powerhouse club Olympique Lyonnais.
• The superstar USWNT midfielder is intent on capturing her first Champions League title.

Playing in the Champions League again has been everything Lindsey Horan dreamed of and more.

The US Women's National Team star says the experience rivals some of the biggest moments of her career.

"Coolest thing in the world," Horan told Insider. "Honestly, for me as a footballer, Champions League is — other than the World Cup and Olympics — it's one of the highest level tournaments."

"I always wanted to go back and play there; I just didn't know what point in my career it was gonna be," she added. "I honestly didn't know it was gonna be now."

Horan has played in the Champions League before. The world-class midfielder spent four seasons with French club Paris Saint-Germain when she was just a teenager.

But after nearly a decade of experience with the National Women's Soccer League's Portland Thorns and the USWNT, Horan returned to France to join ranks with Olympique Lyonnais — the European powerhouse that serves as Paris Saint-Germain's archrival.

"My first bit of time with PSG was just not what I hoped it would be," Horan said. "It obviously helped me grow as a person and a player, and I wouldn't be where I am today without that experience. But now I'm a lot older, I'm a lot more experienced, and I have much more to give."

"I want to win things with the team and help them as much as possible," she added of Lyon. "So I was hoping that this time around it was gonna be more so like that. And [I could] just give a different Lindsey Horan to Lyon."

She's already made an impact for the star-studded French side, even as she ramps back up following a knee injury. In her first start with Lyon, which came during the second leg of OL's Champions League quarterfinal against Juventus, Horan delivered a stunning, staggeringly accurate long ball to teammate Melvine Malard to mark her first assist with the club.

"That game that I played in, honestly, it was close to the feeling of playing in a World Cup," Horan said. "It's a world-stage game, you're playing amongst some of the best players in the world, and the level of competitiveness is insane."

"You're fighting for that semifinal spot, and it was just an insane feeling," she added. "The fanbase was incredible, and I was really happy to finally feel that again."

That's rather high praise coming from a player who's won a World Cup.

Lyon finished that match against Juventus with a 3-1 victory in the second leg to win the quarterfinal 4-3 on aggregate. Now, Horan and company will face a familiar foe in the upcoming semifinals.

Horan will face her former club, PSG, on one of soccer's biggest stages for the first of two matches this Sunday. But the 27-year-old insists she hasn't allowed herself to "really think about it too much."

"I've never won a Champions League, and that's my main goal here," she said. "So I guess I'm not as worried about the opponent and the fact that I played there, but more just focused on our team and what we can do and how we can win."

Lyon will host the first leg Sunday at 11 am ET. Fans around the world can tune in free of charge on DAZN's YouTube channel.