Manchester City’s nightmare season continues with Champions League collapse; No ‘Triple Espresso’ for USWNT

Hey! The UEFA Champions League’s knockout phase playoffs got off to a strong start on Tuesday and have more in store on Wednesday, while the U.S. women’s national team’s prep for their first games of 2025 is officially underway. I’m Pardeep Cattry with a midweek check-in.

📺 Footy fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Wednesday, Feb. 12
🇪🇺 UCL: Club Brugge vs. Atalanta, 12:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EPL: Everton vs. Liverpool, 2:30 p.m. ➡️ USA Network
🇪🇺 UCL: Celtic vs. Bayern Munich, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇺 UCL: Feyenoord vs. AC Milan, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🌎 Concacaf Champions Cup: Chivas vs. Cibao, 8 p.m. ➡️ FS2

Thursday, Feb. 13
🇪🇺 UEL: Fenerbahce vs. Anderlecht, 12:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇺 UEL: Porto vs. Roma, 3 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Network, Paramount+

⚽ The Forward Line

🇪🇺 Knockout phase playoffs are officially underway

Real Madrid’s 3-2 win over Manchester City marked a thrilling start to the UEFA Champions League knockout phase playoffs on Tuesday, with the reigning champions coming from behind twice before scoring a last-gasp game-winner at Etihad Stadium. City managed a surprisingly strong start, surviving an early period of pressure from Madrid and nabbing the game’s first goal. Things began to unravel after the halftime break as the visitors scored an equalizer, and the back-and-forth game ended with them relinquishing yet another lead and now facing a tough second leg in Spain.

It was hard not to view the first leg of the tie as a make-or-break moment for the last two Champions League winners, with Madrid passing the test. They have had their own challenges to deal with this season, most notably an injury crisis that left them without their top-choice center backs, though manager Carlo Ancelotti admitted that “despite the emergency, we’ve been able get something good out of it.” That was not the case for City, with manager Pep Guardiola still appearing to be out of answers, months after his team began a downward spiral.

• Guardiola: “Many games at the end we give away. At that level, it is so difficult. It is not the first time, it happens many times. There are mistakes in similar areas. It is difficult to manage but yeah, it happens many times. Players take decisions in the moment, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. We arrived in the last minute with the result but we could not keep it. [The responsibility] belongs to all of us, not just the players. I have not a problem to accept that it doesn’t work like it worked in the past. It is all of us.”

On Wednesday, another batch of teams hope to join Madrid on the list of teams with first leg advantages, which includes Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Juventus. Bayern Munich, the 2020 champions, are expected to join that group as the heavy favorites against Celtic, but perhaps the most intriguing tie of the day will take place in Rotterdam, where Feyenoord host AC Milan. American standout Christian Pulisic will be someone to keep an eye on, but so is his Concacaf compatriot Santiago Gimenez. The Mexico international swapped Feyenoord for Milan in the winter transfer window and is already off to a strong start with his new club, making him James Benge’s player to watch.

• Benge: “It’ll be like he never went away! Nine days after signing his contract with Milan, Gimenez will be back at De Kuip. Given he has already hit a rich vein of form in his new colors – a goal and assist in his first two matches – he seems a likely starter and one who will need no reminding where the goal is.”

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🔗  Midfield Link Play

🇺🇸 USWNT’s era of experimentation continues at SheBelieves Cup

U.S. women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes named her roster for the SheBelieves Cup, selecting a mix of veterans and up-and-comers for their first games of the new year. Hayes went with the varied approach based on who was available and who was not, but also because she continues to embrace the spirit of experimentation as the USWNT builds strategically towards the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

Here’s the SheBelieves Cup roster in full.

• Goalkeepers (2): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals)
• Defenders (8): Tierna Davidson (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Crystal Dunn (Paris Saint-Germain), Emily Fox (Arsenal FC), Tara McKeown (Washington Spirit), Jenna Nighswonger (Arsenal FC), Emily Sams (Orlando Pride), Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Gisele Thompson (Angel City FC)
• Midfielders (6): Korbin Albert (Paris Saint-Germain), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Lindsey Heaps (Olympique Lyon), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current), Jaedyn Shaw (North Carolina Courage), Lily Yohannes (Ajax,)
• Forwards (7): Lynn Biyendolo (Seattle Reign FC), Michelle Cooper (Kansas City Current), Catarina Macario (Chelsea FC), Yazmeen Ryan (Houston Dash), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville FC), Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City FC)

For a third successive camp, Hayes will be without the “triple espresso” – Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Sophia Wilson (formerly Smith) – through a combination of fitness issues and personal reasons. Four uncapped players made the cut, though – defenders Tara McKeown and Gisele Thompson, midfielder Claire Hutton and forward Michelle Cooper – and 14 players in total have 20 or fewer caps. Hayes said last month that she has essentially explored the entirety of the player pool between friendlies in the fall and January’s 50 player Futures camp, but she said in a Tuesday press conference that she plans to use the next few months to continue to provide inexperienced players with opportunities.

• Hayes: “I see this as a great opportunity to develop less experienced players in a tournament-type setting in these games, and from now until the end of June, I suspect there will be a fair bit of experimenting with the available players that I can select. … We do not have a World Cup today and my job is to prepare a team to compete come that period, so I have to provide these players the opportunity to do it and if I solely played just to prepare a group just for a World Cup today, I wouldn’t take the risks I’m taking right now and that’s something that I want to do through the entirety of this block [of time].”

The USWNT will kick off the SheBeleives on Feb. 20 against Colombia, and then will face Australia on Feb. 23 and finish off with a clash against Japan on Feb. 26.

🔗  Top Stories

🏆 Madrid do their thing: Even amidst the ups and downs of the games, Real Madrid were their vintage, imperfect selves as they beat Manchester City on Tuesday. Here’s James Benge’s report from the Etihad.

🇫🇷 Dembele’s on fire: Ousmane Dembele was arguably the standout player in Tuesday’s Champions League action, scoring twice against Brest as he continues an impressive run of form.

🩹 Havertz injury: Kai Havertz could miss the rest of Arsenal’s season with a hamstring injury they noticed during the Gunners’ warm weather training camp in Dubai.

❌ Espanyol condemn Leon: Espanyol condemned Barcelona’s Mapi Leon for an “unacceptable” gesture in an incident with Daniela Caracas over the weekend.

🇺🇸 U-17 USMNT’s historic game: 16-year-old Chase Adams walks CBS Sports through the U-17 USMNT’s 22-0 win over the U.S. Virgin Islands on Monday, when he overcame a stomach bug to score 10 goals.

🔴 Fraser on representation: Toronto FC head coach Robin Fraser discusses the impact he’s had on young Black coaches around MLS, as well as his advice for them as they rise up the ranks.

⚫⚪ McKennie with a banger: The USMNT’s Weston McKennie scored a golazo in Juventus’ 2-1 win over PSV in the Champions League.

💰  The Back Line

💵 Best bets

• Premier League: Everton vs. Liverpool, Wednesday, 2:30 p.m.
  💰 THE PICK: Diogo Jota to score (+185) – The easy money is obviously on Mohamed Salah, who already has 26 goals across all competitions this season. The Egypt international is likely to get some help if Liverpool pick up a win in the Merseyside Derby, and Diogo Jota could be amongst the contributors. He has four goals in 12 games since returning from injury, making him a player to keep an eye on at Everton.
• UEFA Europa League: Porto vs. Roma, Thursday, 3 p.m.
  💰 THE PICK: Porto and Roma to tie 1-1 (+500) – This tie, arguably the most compelling in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase playoffs, feels like a toss-up in every sense. Roma may have finished ahead of Porto in the league phase, but the teams were only separated by one point during the league phase. As a result, these sides might be hard-pressed to find a sizable advantage in the first leg, so expect a closely contested match to kick off this two-legged tie.

For more picks, predictions, expert tips and the latest betting news, don’t miss out on CBSSports.com’s betting home page.   

📺 What’s on CBS Sports Golazo Network

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⚽  Call it What You Want (Monday and Thursday): A weekly podcast where Jimmy Conrad, Charlie Davies and Tony Meola cover all things USMNT and the state of the beautiful game in the United States. You can catch the show streaming live on YouTube every Monday at 1 p.m. ET and Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.

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