Congratulations! Friday has arrived and you made it to the weekend. The midweek games delivered a major dose of madness, including an all-timer in the English Football League playoffs with Sheffield Wednesday coming back from 4-0 down to defeat Peterborough United on penalties.

This weekend could see the Premier League title sealed by Manchester City and possibly PSG in Ligue 1. I am Jonathan Johnson and this is the Golazo Starting XI newsletter getting you set for another weekend at the business end of the season.

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📺 Footy fix

All times U.S./Eastern.

Friday, May 19
🇮🇹 Serie A: Sassuolo vs. Monza, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇫🇷 Ligue 1: Lyon vs. Monaco, 3 p.m. ➡️ beIN Sports
🇦🇷 Argentina: Argentinos Juniors vs. Boca Juniors, 8:30 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network

Saturday, May 20
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EPL: Liverpool vs. Aston Villa, 10 a.m. ➡️ USA Network
🇮🇹 Serie A: Atalanta vs. Verona, 12 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇩🇪 Bundesliga: Bayern vs. Leipzig, 12:30 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🌎 U-20 World Cup: USA vs. Ecuador, 2 p.m. ➡️ Telemundo
🇮🇹 Serie A: Milan vs. Sampdoria, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇫🇷 Ligue 1: Lille vs. Marseille, 3 p.m. ➡️ beIN Sports
🇧🇷 Brasileirão: Botafogo vs. Fluminense, 5:30 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇺🇸 MLS: FC Cincinnati vs. Columbus Crew, 7:30 p.m. ➡️ AppleTV+
🇺🇸 NWSL: Kansas City Current vs. Racing Louisville, 8 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇲🇽 Liga MX semifinal: Monterrey vs. Tigres, 9 p.m. ➡️ Fox Deportes
🇺🇸 MLS: St. Louis City vs. Sporting Kansas City, 9:30 p.m. ➡️ FS1

Sunday, May 21
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 SPL: Hibernian vs. Rangers, 7 a.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Women's SL: Chelsea vs. Arsenal, 7:30 a.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EPL: West Ham vs. Leeds, 8:30 a.m. ➡️ USA Network
🇮🇹 Serie A: Torino vs. Fiorentina, 9 a.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EPL: Man City vs. Chelsea, 11 a.m. ➡️ USA Network
🇮🇹 Serie A: Napoli vs. Inter, 12 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Network
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Women's SL: Man Utd vs. Man City, 1:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇧🇷 Brasileirão: Flamengo vs. Corinthians, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🌎 U-20 World Cup: Italy vs. Brazil, 5 p.m. ➡️ Telemundo
🇺🇸 NWSL: OL Reign vs. NJ/NY Gotham, 6 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🇲🇽 Liga MX semifinal: America vs. Chivas, 10 p.m. ➡️ Univision

⚽ The Forward Line

Historic treble on Man City's radar

It is shaping up to a memorable end to this season for Manchester City with Pep Guardiola's squad into the UEFA Champions League final along with an FA Cup final. Sunday presents the opportunity for them to confirm their successful Premier League title defense. Chelsea are the visitors to Etihad Stadium and the Blues could yet prolong City's wait to be crowned champions, but Arsenal must win away at Nottingham Forest if Erling Haaland and his teammates are to be forced to wait. Should that happen, the title race could directly impact the race for Europe with Brighton and Hove Albion away coming up next week.

Also in play in the final few weeks of this campaign is a large slice of history with City on the verge of equaling Manchester rivals United's 1999 success across the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League. Sir Alex Ferguson and his team's achievements have not been matched or bettered yet by an English club, yet Guardiola's side could do that now and the Red Devils have the chance to stop them in the FA Cup final at Wembley. Fail to do so and Inter are all that stand between City and greatness with Guardiola ever-so close to adding to his two UCL titles with Barcelona that he can smell the success.

James Benge looks at City's flawless execution of their semifinal second leg in greater detail after Wednesday's 4-0 masterclass against Real Madrid to book their Istanbul berth, explaining what brought them to this point.

Benge: "It didn't matter that Madrid had given the past, present and future champions of England their toughest test of the season so far eight days ago. Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric were irrelevant on this night. This was all about City finally reaching the very apex of their trajectory in the Pep Guardiola era, their best performance of the Abu Dhabi era. How they have got there is a matter of profound concern for English and European football. That century and change of Premier League charges would immediately dull the profundity of nights like this if City are unable to convince investigators of their innocence. Every great success that this club had in the last 15 years has brought with it ever more questions about the warping power of nation-state wealth applied to give Guardiola everything the best coach in the world could wish for."

If City's titles keep piling up, the questions about what this means for the game of football in Europe will only get louder.

🔗 Midfield Link Play

Mourinho does it again with Roma

It was a decisive week across all of European soccer's major properties with the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League finals being set after the second legs of the respective semifinals. City and Inter will meet in Istanbul in the UCL final for what could be the Premier League club's maiden triumph while serial UEL winners Sevilla will get another shot at extending their record tally of six up against Jose Mourinho's AS Roma side in their second continental final in as many years in Budapest. There could be further Italian glory in the UECL too after Fiorentina saw off Basel to set up a date with West Ham United in Prague with all of that to look forward to between now and June 10. You can catch all three finals on Paramount+.

Mourinho and Roma's work was particularly notable on Thursday given that "the Giallorossi had zero shots on target (0.03 xG), while the home team had a total of 23 shots but failed to score," as Francesco Porzio wrote of an historic achievement for the Portuguese master.

Porzio: "It was definitely a historical night for Mourinho and the whole club, as they managed to qualify for the second time in a row to a European final after winning the UEFA Conference League last season and now will have the chance to lift the UEFA Europa League trophy. Mourinho will manage his sixth European final as a coach after winning one Europa League with FC Porto, two Champions Leagues with both Porto and Inter, one Europa League with Manchester United and the UEFA Conference League with AS Roma. Mourinho is now the third manager to ever play six finals alongside Sir Alex Ferguson (6) and Giovanni Trapattoni (7). Against Sevilla, he will have the chance to make history again."

We have all of the Champions League final details for you to lock it into your diary now.

And now let's get to some links:

🔗 More U.S. Open Cup games are coming to CBS Sports Golazo Network next week, including El Trafico!
🔗 Benge looks at Saudi-backed Newcastle United being within touching distance of the UCL.
🔗 With Champions League all but guaranteed, the Morning Footy crew looks at who they might pursue this summer.
🔗 Roger Gonzalez with big news from MLS as San Diego is confirmed for 2025.
🔗 What should the new team's name be? Our Morning Footy crew had some thoughts.
🔗 Porzio keeps us in North America with an update on the FIFA 2026 World Cup logo.
🔗 Benge on Jurgen Klopp's suspension which will rule him out vs. Aston Villa this weekend.
🔗 Porzio on what might be next for Milan after their UCL Inter loss.
🔗 I also try to look at reasons why we should not rule out Inter surprising City in the UCL final just yet.
🔗 The most insane result of the week though was the four-goal comeback by League 1 club Sheffield Wednesday.
🔗 In Soccer We Trust: The U-20 World Cup kicks off this weekend, and we've got a preview for you.
🔗 House of Champions: Breaking down Manchester City and their rampage across all competitions.
🔗 Attacking Third: Sandra and Lisa welcome the director of the new Angel City documentary.
🔗 NWSL Power Rankings are out, with the Spirit taking the top spot.

Craving more soccer coverage? Listen below and follow House of Champions, a CBS Sports soccer podcast, bringing you top-notch analysis, commentary, picks and more.

💰 The Back Line

💵 Best bets

All odds courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook and all times U.S./Eastern. SportsLine has you covered with this weekend's best bets.

Ligue 1: Lyon vs. Monaco, Friday, 3 p.m.
💰 THE PICK: Draw (+275) -- Neither side can afford to lose this one if they are to reach Europe next season and a win for Les Monegasques could confirm UEFA qualification. OL are up against it, though, after last week's loss to impressive Clermont and this promises to be quite an even contest between two teams which blow extremely hot and cold.
EPL: Liverpool vs. Villa, Saturday, 10 a.m.
💰 THE PICK: Draw (+375) -- This one is huge in the race for both top four and Europe which could set up a frantic final day in the Premier League. The Reds need six points from six to really stand a chance of a Champions League spot while Villa could improbably finish in the top six thanks to Unai Emery's incredible transformation job. Both would love the win, but neither can afford to lose and Villa to win at +550 should not be totally ruled out given some of their results.
EPL: City vs. Chelsea, Sunday, 11 a.m.
💰 THE PICK: Draw (+550) -- City are the overwhelming favorites to win easily and secure their Premier League title defense, but whether or not it is confirmed pregame depends on how Arsenal fare away at Nottingham Forest. Chelsea have had so little to celebrate this season, yet they are technically equipped to avoid defeat here and potentially force City to wait a few more days.