The 19th overall meeting between Mauricio Pochettino and Pep Guardiola ended in favor of the Catalan maestro, giving him 11 wins, five draws and only three defeats after Manchester City produced a rousing comeback against PSG on Wednesday to take a 2-1 lead back to the Etihad in the Champions League semifinals.
It looked like PSG was cruising. The first half went just about as well as Mauricio Pochettino could have hoped, with PSG leading by a goal, looking dangerous whenever it attacked and rarely troubled by Manchester City. One wonders what Poch said to his charges at halftime, because it all fell apart in the second 45, much like the PSG wall that completely failed to defend a Riyad Mahrez free kick.
Wednesday promises to provide an enthralling clash as the high-powered offenses of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain do battle in the Champions League semifinal first leg.
Both sides lead their respective domestic leagues in scoring this year, with PSG having scored 77 goals through 34 games and Pep Guardiola's City posting 69 in 33. While City waltzes towards its fifth league title since 2011-12 and third in four years, PSG finds itself in the midst of an actual title challenge in Ligue 1 for just the second time in nearly a decade.
Christian Pulisic escribió esta noche un capítulo grande en la historia del fútbol estadounidense. El oriundo de Hershey, Pennsylvania, se convirtió en el primer jugador de esa nación en convertir en una semifinal de Champions League, al marcar en el 1-1 de Chelsea ante Real Madrid.
There was a time when Christian Pulisic’s rumored destination from Borussia Dortmund was Real Madrid. With Gareth Bale fading and Lucas Vázquez not offering as much of a threat, it wasn’t just a fancy of The18 that Pulisic make his way to the Santiago Bernabéu — He Who Must Not Be Named (Florentino Pérez) wanted it.
Early against Real Madrid, Christian Pulisic put the ball on a platter for Timo Werner to score, but his German teammate hit it too close to Thibaut Courtois, whose lanky legs denied Chelsea an early goal. Not long later, Pulisic learned his lesson and opted not to pass, and in doing so put his team in front in the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday in Madrid. The Pulisic goal vs Real Madrid was the opener in a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the UCL semifinals.
Back in December of 2019, UEFA revealed its plans for a revamped Women’s Champions League beginning with the 2021-22 season. After a brief nightmare concerning the ramifications of the harebrained European Super League on the women’s game, we can now get back to celebrating the changes that were approved by UEFA’s Executive Committee last week.
Pep Guardiola is in pure form. The Manchester City boss was in full flow in the press room ahead of the Champions League semifinals. His team faces Neymar and Kylian Mbappé's PSG on Wednesday, but far from being intimidated by the scenario, the man from Santpedor enjoyed it.
"I've rarely been happier than I am now to travel with this team to Paris and try to do my best in the Champions League," he said at a press conference that left a bunch of headlines.
As the Super League quickly fell apart, UEFA announced a new Champions League format for 2024. UEFA is ditching the traditional eight groups of four and instead will use one giant league of 36 teams. There will also be an extra four teams that will be decided based on UEFA’s coefficient rankings and domestic league performances.
This Tuesday, the first semi-final of the current edition of the Champions League will take place: Real Madrid vs Chelsea. However, the match between these two teams, to be played at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium, is shrouded in controversy after the British media revealed in the last few hours that three Chelsea players were at a party in England, violating the strict biosecurity rules in this country.