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Footy Fix: Champions League league phase field almost set ahead of Thursday’s draw

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Hello! Nothing says late summer quite like the UEFA Champions League’s league phase draw. I’m Pardeep Cattry with a midweek update on the latest.

📺 Footy fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Wednesday, Aug. 26
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EFL Cup: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Charlton Athletic, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇸 LaLiga: Real Madrid vs. Real Sociedad, 3 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🇪🇺 UCL qualifying: Lyon vs. Fenerbahce, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇺🇸 NWSL: North Carolina Courage vs. Angel City, 8 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Network
🇺🇸🇲🇽 Leagues Cup: Club America vs. Columbus Crew, 10:45 p.m. ➡️ FS1

Thursday, Aug. 27
🇪🇺 UCL league phase draw, 12 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EFL Cup: Chelsea vs. Luton Town, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇸 LaLiga: Barcelona vs. Athletic Club, 3 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+

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🇪🇺 Setting the stage for the Champions League


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Paris Saint-Germain may still be sporting the glow that comes with winning back-to-back UEFA Champions League titles, but on Thursday the focus shifts to a new campaign with the league phase draw. The field of contenders for this season’s competition is nearly set and is headlined by a batch of usual suspects – last season’s finalists Arsenal are back for another stab at the title, while recent semifinalists Barcelona and Bayern Munich will also be amongst the teams to keep an eye on.

Here’s a list of the 32 teams that have qualified so far.

  • England: Aston Villa, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool
  • Italy: Inter, Napoli, Roma, Como
  • Spain: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Real Betis
  • Germany: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Stuttgart
  • France: Paris Saint-Germain, Lens, Lille
  • Netherlands: PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord
  • Portugal: Porto, Sporting Lisbon
  • Belgium: Club Brugge
  • Czechia: Slavia Praha
  • Turkiye: Galatasaray
  • Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk
  • Azerbaijan: Sabah
  • Norway: Bodo/Glimt
  • Austria: LASK

The mainstays command plenty of attention, but there are some surprise teams who enter the fold this time around. The list includes Sabah, who snapped Qarabag’s streak of winning the Azerbaijan Premier League in 11 of the last 12 seasons and progressed from the first round of Champions League qualification – which began before the World Cup quarterfinals did – to ensure they would take part in Europe’s top club competition for the first time in club history. LASK, meanwhile, followed up their first Austrian Bundesliga title in 60 years by booking their first-ever trip to the Champions League in remarkable fashion – they overcame a 3-0 first leg deficit to Celtic with a 5-1 win at home. Samuel Adeniran, a Houston-born forward who bounced around Europe and the U.S. before finding a landing place in Linz, scored a brace on Tuesday to help seal the deal for LASK.

One final batch of qualification matches will take place on Wednesday before the 36 teams are divided into four pots and drawn against each other on Thursday in Monaco. The action promises to be just as thrilling since all four remaining ties are tied on aggregate, including Lyon’s clash with Fenerbahce after a 1-1 draw in Istanbul last week. For those keeping count of American players in the competition – U.S. international Tanner Tessman is expected to play a sizable role again for Lyon on Wednesday and hopes to join the seven other countrymen in the competition, including PSV’s World Cup players Ricardo Pepi and Sergino Dest.

Here’s a glance at the remaining Champions League qualification ties.

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  • AEK Athens vs. Levski Sofia, 3 p.m. (teams tied 0-0 on aggregate)
  • Lyon vs. Fenerbahce, 3 p.m. (teams tied 1-1 on aggregate)
  • Viking vs. Dinamo Zagreb, 3 p.m. (teams tied 2-2 on aggregate)
  • Celje vs. Slovan Bratislava, 3 p.m. (teams tied 1-1 on aggregate)

🏆 Live Tomorrow

What’s on CBS Sports Golazo Network

☀️ Morning Footy (Weekdays 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.): Join Golazo Network as it helps fans get their day started on the right foot on the network’s flagship morning show with highlights, interviews and the biggest soccer storylines. Morning Footy is also available in podcast form, so you’ll never have to miss an episode.

3️⃣ Attacking Third: The leading women’s soccer podcast and social brand is now a live studio show. The NWSL season is back, and our coverage of the women’s game is stronger than ever. Our analysts will be breaking down the USWNT, NWSL and European domestic season all year long.

⚽  Call it What You Want: Jimmy Conrad, Charlie Davies, and Tony Meola cover all things USMNT and the state of the game in the United States. Catch new episodes live on the Golazo America YouTube channel.

🥅 Scoreline (Daily): Scoreline is the newest place for fans to catch up on all the biggest news and results impacting global football, match highlights from the top soccer competitions and all the can’t-miss goals from the day’s action, starting Thursday and airing seven days a week.

📺 How to watch: CBS Sports Golazo Network is a free 24/7 channel exclusively dedicated to offering unparalleled coverage of all the top soccer competitions worldwide. You can stream for free on the CBS Sports appPluto TV and Paramount+.

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Chelsea set to face competition from London rivals for Emiliano Martinez: Reports

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Chelsea are reportedly set to face competition from one of their London rivals for Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

Recent reports claimed that the Blues are considering a deal for Argentina and Villa shotstopper Emiliano Martinez in the current transfer window. They are considering replacing their current No. 1, Robert Sanchez, after his error-strewn showing in the Blues’ opening PL game.

Chelsea are not the only club interested, as their London rivals Tottenham are also reportedly exploring a deal for the veteran keeper. According to Argentine journalist Gaston Edul, the Lilywhites are set to provide competition to the Blues for Martinez’s signing.

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Aston Villa are ready to part ways with Emi Martinez as they’ve signed Japanese keeper Zion Suzuki as a replacement for the Argentine veteran. The Villans were ready to sell Martinez to Juventus earlier in the window, but that deal didn’t materialize.

Juventus ended up signing Guglielmo Vicario from Spurs instead, which could point to why Tottenham are interested in signing the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner. Antonin Kinsky is the current No.1 of the Roberto De Zerbi-led side; adding a player with Martinez’s experience could help them out massively.

According to reports, Chelsea have been offered the chance to sign Martinez and are currently having internal discussions over the potential deal. Martinez is reportedly open to joining the Blues despite their lack of European football this season.

Pundits like Gary Neville have asked the Blues to go ahead and replace their current No. 1, Robert Sanchez, with a player like Emiliano Martinez to help new manager Xabi Alonso achieve his targets with the squad this season.

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Chelsea are set to play Luton Town on Thursday (August 27) in the second round of the EFL Cup. Alonso could consider using Mike Penders ahead of Robert Sanchez in the Cup clash, as the Spanish tactician suggested (via football.london) the Belgian keeper will have an opportunity.

Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso provides Enzo Fernandez update

Speaking ahead of their Cup clash against Luton Town, Alonso responded when asked if Enzo Fernandez would feature for the Blues against the League 1 side. He said:

“Yes, so we expect that he’s involved, he’s trained, he’s training really well, he’s a good professional and he will be involved.”

When asked if he expects Enzo to be a Chelsea player come the end of the transfer window, he said:

“We want to have the best team possible. We know his qualities, he has shown it and we have to wait, but we will think about tomorrow and let’s see how things develop.”