Champions League

Champions League. In the last six weeks, City have finished with seven wins from 11 league matches and now sit one point clear of Arsenal at the top end but they will also get their first major trophy since winning it back in 1990 when Real Madrid beat them 4-0 on aggregate to clinch silverware for two consecutive seasons.It is a big day inside Chelsea's Emirates Stadium today as Manuel Pellegrini opens up about his vision for this season while still coaching Leicester despite already losing 10 players ahead if rumours are true that David Moyes could leave during the January transfer window.While speaking publicly after yesterday evening 1:15pm AEST news

Champions League . It is still unclear as to when a final decision will be made on whether or not the club should proceed with his loan deal at Chelsea, but here's hoping that he makes some significant progress and eventually gets picked by either Liverpool (who have an excellent defensive midfield) in 2018/19 or Arsenal(the team who can get rid of him for good).

PSG Vs. RB Leipzig On CBS All Access: Live Stream UEFA Champions League Semifinal, TV, News, Time, Odds, News 

Watch Now: Full Champions League Preview: RB Leipzig-PSG (9:25) The UEFA Champions League semifinals begin Tuesday as Paris Saint-Germain take on RB Leipzig with a spot in the final on the line with goalkeeper Keylor Navas out injured (hamstring) for the French club. Many expected the talent-rich Parisians to be here, but RB Leipzig has been one of the surprises of the tournament, knocking out Atletico Madrid in the quarterfinals. Neither team has ever made the Champions League final, but one will here.  You can stream every match on CBS All Access. Sign up now and enjoy one month of CBS All Access for free. If you're a CBS All Access subscriber looking for a match that's live right now, go directly to the UEFA Champions League page. Every match will be available on demand shortly after the final whistle.    Here's how you can watch the match and what to know: Match information Date: Tuesday, Aug. 18 Time: 3 p.M. ET Location: Estadio da Luz -- Lisbon, Portugal TV: CBS All Access (enjoy one-month free trial) Odds: PSG -130; Draw +295; RB Leipzig +330 (via William Hill Sportsbook)  Storylines PSG: After needing a late miracle to come back against Atalanta, one has to figure Thomas Tuchel will start Kylian Mbappe here. After recovering from his ankle injury to make an appearance that turned the game late, he will likely get the start in attack with Neymar. It will be interesting to see how PSG lines up though and whether it will be Mbappe and Neymar in attack or if Mauro Icardi gets another chance after a poor showing. Because RB Leipzig likes to play so wide, it wouldn't be all that shocking to see a shift in formation. RB Leipzig: Tyler Adams, the young American, has earned the right to start after scoring the winner against Atletico. He's full of confidence after scoring his first goal for the club, but don't be all that shocked if he is on the bench again. In attack, without Timo Werner, the creativity and chances were pretty good for this side, and they should feel confident in finding the net in this one as well. Their pace could give PSG trouble. Prediction Mbappe starts, makes all the difference and sends PSG into the final. Pick: PSG 2, RB Leipzig 1


PSG Vs. RB Leipzig Picks Betting Odds, Predictions, Picks: Count On Neymar To Score In Champions League Semis 

It's the UEFA Champions League semifinal in which nobody knows who to root for. Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig are two clubs that have made many enemies among soccer fans, but not for the way they play. Instead, it's what each club seems to represent. PSG are one of two clubs -- the other being Manchester City -- to be state-owned. RB Leipzig are seen as a glorified marketing project for Red Bull. Whatever you think of either team or its ownership, both have proven to be pretty good at the whole "playing soccer" thing. Both are also on the verge of reaching the Champions League final and hoisting their first Champions League trophy. While I have a slight lean toward PSG being the team to move on, there's not much value at all on betting them to do so. Luckily, I've found three other spots to take advantage of. All odds are via William Hill Sportsbook. Over 2.5 Goals (-160) Oh, there will be goals, my friends. That is something I'm quite certain of. PSG barely managed to get by Atalanta in the last round, needing two stoppage-time goals to overcome a 1-0 deficit (and break my Atalanta +250 ticket-holding heart in the process), but they deserved the goals. Using xG, PSG outscored Atalanta 2.8-0.9 in the match, so they were a bit unlucky not to have scored more. And given some of the chances Neymar missed, it might have been a 4-1 final. I think we'll see more of those chances find the back of the net in this match, particularly if Kylian Mbappe is healthy enough to play more than the 30 minutes he did against Atalanta. PSG became an entirely different team once he came on, and it's possible they can get to three goals on their own here. But odds are they won't have to, which brings me to my next play. Both Teams To Score (-160) I talked to my CBSSports.Com colleague Chip Patterson over the weekend, and he referred to the Both Teams To Score bet as "the Mr. Rogers of gambling." It's true! It feels like you're just rooting for everybody to do well and have fun, and after the match, we can all get some ice cream. Anyway, I don't think the odds of Leipzig being shut out in this match are great. The team scored twice against Atletico Madrid in the quarterfinal despite managing only 0.5 xG. That's what Atletico Madrid does to you, though. You don't get a lot of great chances and instead must rely on converting the limited opportunities you get. Leipzig did that. I expect things to be a little more open against PSG, even if PSG have been excellent defensively itself. They managed six clean sheets in nine UCL matches, but four of them came against Galatasaray and Club Brugge. In five matches against teams from Europe's top five leagues, PSG allowed 1.0 goals and 1.24 xG per match. Still good numbers, but nothing that keeps me from thinking Leipzig will strike at least once. Of course, that's also partially due to my faith in Leipzig's manager Julian Nagelsmann to figure out how best to attack PSG. Neymar To Score (+100) Neymar didn't score against Atalanta, and he should have. He had six shots overall, with two on target, good enough for an xG of 1.0. It was the first time he started a UCL match this season and didn't find the back of the net. The trend will start anew on Tuesday. Neymar caught a lot of grief for the missed chances against Atalanta, but that didn't change the fact that he was the best player on the field. He'll be the best player on the field against Leipzig as well. Getting even money odds on him scoring almost feels like stealing. So who wins PSG vs. RB Leipzig? And where does all the betting value lie? Visit SportsLine now to find out which side of the PSG vs. RB Leipzig money line has all the value, all from the proprietary European soccer model that's up an eye-popping 13,800 percent.


Champions League Stage Set For Neymar To Prove He's One Of The Best 

This past Wednesday was declared "Ney Day" in Brazil, with many clubs and prominent people in football across the country taking to social media to express their support for Paris Saint-Germain forward Neymar as he went into the Champions League quarterfinal tie against Atalanta. PSG reached the semifinals of the competition for the first time in 25 years with a 2-1 win, but it was a close-run thing. Before their late comeback, they were five minutes from another frustrating elimination. Had that happened, even in the land of Neymar's birth, critics would have been sharpening their knives. Brazil can be very cruel to its idols, and Neymar is an extraordinarily divisive figure. 2 Related In the buildup to Wednesday's game, Neymar made his own post on social media. He had touched up his Mohican haircut, had prepared a special pair of sunglasses and was loading up his sound system -- all making clear that he was preparing for a party. This kind of dialogue delights some but irritates others. Neymar communicates very well with his own demographic and very badly with everyone else. He is now 28, but at the very highest level of the game, that means he's closer to the end of his career than the beginning. He has been a Brazil international for a decade, and yet he can still be seen as a petulant, overindulged and underachieving adolescent. It's easy, yes, but also unfair. It's true that Neymar can be his own worst enemy. It is his own fault that his diving became a global joke during the last World Cup. He is a player who has been hothoused. Rather than coming up through the rough and tumble of informal street football, where the slightly built skillful type of player has to learn how to protect himself, he grew through an organised version of the game where the protection was always provided by the referee. Today, if a referee's criteria for fouls does not match his own, he can easily become frustrated. - Olley: Pep's tormented tactics led to latest City nightmare- Hunter: Barca only ones who didn't see humiliation coming- Hamilton: USMNT's Tyler Adams is Leipzig's unlikely hero- Laurens: PSG finally end their Champions League curse There's clearly much more to him than his showbiz profile. It is striking how much he is liked by many of his teammates, who admire him for his talent and maybe for his lifestyle, but also for his work ethic and his generally easygoing manner. It is harsh to label him as an underachiever or, as some have argued, a figure who costs his teams titles. He was certainly a valued member of the Barcelona side that won almost everything available to them in 2015, but his €222m departure to PSG two years later has undeniably been a factor in the Spanish club's decline since. Neymar has struggled to reach his full potential, but it could all be about to change. Photo by UEFA - Handout/UEFA via Getty Images On the international front, only two players, Pele (77) and Ronaldo (62), have scored more goals for Brazil. Neymar (61) will soon overtake Ronaldo, and will eventually overhaul Pele as well. It's hardly his fault that many of his goals have come in friendlies: He came into the side at the very moment that, as 2014 World Cup hosts, there was a dearth of competitive fixtures. He was unlucky to get injured during the course of the 2014 tournament and, antics aside, his performances in Russia 2018 before the quarterfinals exit to Belgium were at least as good as could have been expected from a player coming back from an injury. His injury curse struck again last year, as he was forced out of the Copa America. On the domestic side, injuries have blighted his time in France too. Whatever the financial considerations, there was an element of nobility in his decision to leave Barcelona. He had won it all there. But, obviously and understandably, it was Lionel Messi's team. The time had come to branch out on his own, to see if he could carry a side in the manner of Messi. The downside of this noble pursuit was that the season was effectively restricted to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Given the financial superiority of PSG, they could win domestic double after domestic double in France and no one would bat an eyelid. The entire project was dependent on what happened at the business end of the Champions League, and injuries at that stage during both of his first two seasons with the club meant that he hardly took the field. Now, in the course of 10 days in Lisbon, during the Champions League's shortened mini-tournament caused by the coronavirus pandemic, he can make up for lost time. By the time the Champions League trophy is lifted on Sunday, it is possible that either Neymar's legion of fans will be partying, or his army of haters will feel that they have extra ammunition. There was evidence for both sides in those dramatic 95 minutes on Wednesday. Neymar is an exceptionally talented footballer, and some of those skills were on show in the first half. Atalanta pressed high, leaving space behind their defensive line; Neymar was able to burst behind and capitalise on his acceleration and divine balance -- as well as that capacity the truly great players have to make it seem as though time is moving more slowly for them. play 0:58 In an ESPN FC exclusive, Tyler Adams says why RB Leipzig won't have a specific game-plan to stop Neymar & Mbappe. At top pace, while changing direction, Neymar can see a hole opening up between the legs of an opponent, and is capable of calculating the angles and the possibilities in a microsecond. He could have scored or set up at least three goals, but made the wrong choice with the final option. He was simultaneously the most outstanding player on the field, and the most wasteful. In the second half, protecting their 1-0 lead, Atalanta dropped deeper. Starved of space -- and starved of partners -- Neymar was less effective. There were times when he carried the ball too much himself, inviting fouls, and he became increasingly frustrated when free kicks were not awarded his way. However, the game changed after the introduction of Kylian Mbappe, who was not fit enough to start the game. Good teams are built around little partnerships, and when the 21-year-old arrived, Neymar had someone to play off. There was an element of scrappiness about Marquinhos' equalising goal in the 90th minute -- Neymar's far post volley back across the box was not the cleanest of connections -- but the dramatic injury-time winner was a thing of beauty, as his wonderfully timed pass split the defence and allowed Mbappe to set up Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting to score. It was the best of Neymar: his talent at the service of the team. - Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. Only)- Don't have ESPN? Get instant access Stand by for more of the same against RB Leipzig, as Tuesday's semifinal is set up for him. Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid boast all the tools to frustrate Neymar, deny him space and put him off his game, but their conquerors in the quarterfinals, RB Leipzig, are more open. Like Atalanta in Wednesday's first half, the German side are likely to play with a high line. The duel between the PSG attack and Dayot Upamecano, Leipzig's defensive rock, holds the key, and this time Thomas Tuchel has Angel Di Maria available and Mbappe possibly fit enough to start. Neymar has his stage and he has his colleagues. Time to prepare the haircut, the sunglasses and the sound system. For the first time in a decade and a half, the semifinals of the Champions League feature neither Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo. Suddenly the buildup in Brazil to the next "Ney Day" is concentrating on how Neymar has to be chosen as the World Player of the Year if PSG pick up the trophy. Such focus is surely exaggerated. If the past few days have taught us anything, it is the value of the collective in football. In form, on fire and fit, Neymar is no luxury. He is a huge asset to his side. Come the end of this week, he may have made that obvious. If so, even those who can't bring themselves to like him might be able to respect what he brings to the game.