The last four teams standing return to play in the UEFA Champions League this week for the first leg of the semifinals, when some of Europe’s top sides will begin to map out their route to the final on May 31 at Munich’s Allianz Arena.
Treble watch continues for Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, both of whom have already collected their first trophies of the season and are perhaps the most formidable candidates to walk away with Europe’s top club prize in a month’s time. To get to Munich, though, they must get through two strong contenders first with reasonable aspirations of going all the way – Arsenal and Inter.
The Gunners will host PSG on Tuesday for their first Champions League semifinal appearance in 16 years, just weeks removed from their demolition of reigning champions Real Madrid. Inter, meanwhile, travel to Barcelona with the hopes of reversing course on a poor run of form. Simone Inzaghi are now winless in their last four, a stretch that saw them knocked out of the Coppa Italia and the Serie A race perhaps slip out of reach.
As the Champions League semifinals approach, here’s what you need to know before tuning in.
How to watch
CBS and Paramount+ will have live coverage of the first legs of the Champions League semifinals including the UEFA Champions League Today pre-match show, while Paramount+ will carry the post-match show. This week’s batch of games will include a Star Cam that will air on CBS Sports Golazo Network and YouTube during both games. Coverage on both days will conclude with new editions of the Champions Club on CBS Sports Golazo Network and YouTube, as well as Scoreline on CBS Sports Golazo Network. Additionally, Wednesday’s coverage will conclude with a new edition of Kickin’ It, CBS Sports Golazo Network‘s interview show co-hosted by Kate Scott. This week’s guest is Micah Richards, a Premier League champion with Manchester City and a member of CBS Sports’ Champions League broadcast team.
Bracket
Semifinals TV schedule
All times U.S./Eastern
Storylines for the semifinals
1. Treble watch for Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain
From the start of the quarterfinals to now, the treble watch has shrunk from four teams to two. Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona are the last two teams standing in that category, something that might have surprised many at the start of the season. To each side’s credit, though, they have made the best of different challenges to rise to the top and enter this week’s games as the favorites to win the whole thing.
Barcelona are the oddsmakers’ choice at this point in the competition, impressing despite another offseason defined by financial chaos. Lamine Yamal continues to make his case as the game’s greatest rising star while Raphinha has enjoyed a breakout season, though Hansi Flick’s side will be without leading goalscorer Robert Lewandowski through injury. His absence did not hinder them too much in Saturday’s Copa del Rey win over Real Madrid, but another competitive matchup awaits against Inter.
As for Paris Saint-Germain, Luis Enrique’s young group has taken well to his unique tactical style and become perhaps the hardest team to play in Europe. Now with the Ligue 1 title under their belts, the big question is if they can continue their upward trajectory against a capable Arsenal side and return to the Champions League final after their last appearance five years ago. Doing so would mark an earlier-than-expected outcome in their first season without Kylian Mbappe, which had been reasonably billed as a period of transition.
2. Arsenal’s semifinal return
Arsenal will play in the Champions League semifinals and will do so with no distractions, with this competition now their only chance at winning a trophy this season. How likely they are to do so is still up for debate, though – the Gunners are arguably Europe’s best defensive side, using that as the foundation of their 5-1 demolition of Real Madrid in the quarterfinals. Arsenal, though, have missed a clinical goalscorer all season long, so much so that it likely hampered their ability to make a meaningful dent in the Premier League title race. The prospect of another trophyless season looms large for Mikel Arteta and company and if they cannot manage to win the Champions League, there will be many asking if the Gunners have hit a plateau.
3. Inter’s downward turn
While the other three semifinalists feel like genuine contenders with momentum on their side, the same cannot be said for Inter. In the span of a week, they went from treble hopefuls to potentially losing all three of them after some adverse results in domestic play. The Coppa Italia has already slipped out of reach with a loss to AC Milan in the second leg of the semifinals last week, while the Serie A title race has now shifted in Napoli’s favor as Inter continue a four game winless run. How exactly Inter will manage the balancing act of the Champions League and Serie A is a big question but perhaps more importantly, it is worth asking whether or not they can actually pull this off and win either race by the end of the season.
This news was originally published on this post .
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