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Happy Wednesday! The UEFA Champions League came back with a bang on Tuesday with 23 goals across six games, hopefully teasing big things ahead as Matchday 1 action continues on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm Pardeep Cattry with a Europe-themed midweek update.

📺 Footy fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Wednesday, Sept. 17
🇪🇺 UCL: Bayern Munich vs. Chelsea, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇺 UCL: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Atalanta, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇺🇸 U.S. Open Cup semifinals: Minnesota United vs. Austin FC, 8:30 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+, CBS Sports Network
🇺🇸 MLS: Real Salt Lake vs. LAFC, 9:30 p.m. ➡️ MLS Season Pass

Thursday, Sept. 18
🇪🇺 UCL: Manchester City vs. Napoli, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇺 UCL: Newcastle United vs. Barcelona, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇺🇸 NWSL: Angel City vs. Washington Spirit, 10:30 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Network

⚽ The Forward Line

🇩🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bayern Munich, Chelsea headline Matchday 1

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Chelsea travel to Bayern Munich on Wednesday in a clash between two former Champions League winners with ample ambition but plenty of question marks about how high they can actually go.

Bayern are always worth keeping an eye on in the Champions League as the quintessential domestic superpower, so far breezing through their opening Bundesliga fixtures with three wins out of three and 14 goals to the opposition's two. As always, the real test of their mettle comes in Europe and there are real unknowns about Bayern's capabilities in that department. They have more attacking firepower now by adding Luis Diaz and Nicolas Jackson, but whether or not they are better than last season's quarterfinal run remains an open question. Those two could help shatter perceptions that Bayern are overly reliant on Harry Kane, who Francesco Porzio writes is a shoo-in for man of the match honors on Wednesday regardless of how dependent his team is on him.

  • Porzio: "The English striker is in great form. He already has five goals and three assists in the opening three matches of the Bundesliga season with Bayern Munich, and also scored two goals in the opening match of the domestic cup and one goal in the German Supercup for a total of eight goals in the opening five matches of the season. This is why there's a good chance to see him on the scoresheet of the first Champions League match of the 2025-26 season against Chelsea on Wednesday.

As for Chelsea, they return to the Champions League after a two year absence and on the back of an impressive first campaign under manager Enzo Maresca, winning the UEFA Conference League and Club World Cup. Those trophies act as statements of intent from the Blues, who claim to boast a young squad that will become regular contenders for major silverware in the near future. The Champions League will offer a real test of that hypothesis from the start with a game against Bayern but also with fixtures against Barcelona and Napoli mixed in, especially so after an inconsistent start to the Premier League season that has seen them win twice and draw twice. The good news for them is that Cole Palmer is back from a short-term injury, but Maresca has yet to figure out his attacking unit of choice, once again mixing and matching with an oversized squad.

More FREE UEFA Champions League!

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🔗  Midfield Link Play

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇪🇸 Barcelona travel to Newcastle without Lamine Yamal

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Barcelona will begin their Champions League season as the oddsmakers' favorites to win the whole thing but will make the journey to face Newcastle United without Lamine Yamal, with a groin injury keeping the teenager out of Thursday's clash. It forces the question – who are Barcelona without Yamal, and who will pick up the slack in his absence?

The 18-year-old has been such a constant in Barcelona's lineups that he has already surpassed the 100 appearance mark, though Hansi Flick will have a few versatile attackers to choose from to fill Yamal's usual spot on the right side of a 4-2-3-1. Raphinha will likely be back in the lineup after coming off the bench in Sunday's 6-0 win over Valencia, while Fermin Lopez, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford could be called upon. That's without considering Robert Lewandowski, who may be in position to start his first game of the season in his usual role up top and is James Benge's player to watch.

  • Benge: "The brilliant Lewandowski was on fire at this stage of last season's competition, scoring nine of the 11 he would net across the 2024-25 Champions League. He also comes into the game off some welcome rest, playing just 22 minutes against Valencia, but still finding the net twice. It seems that Hansi Flick has concluded that he wants the 37-year-old fit and firing for the biggest games and this should be one of them."

Barcelona will be favored against Newcastle, who have yet to hit their stride this season after a rocky summer that saw them finally let go of Alexander Isak, who is now a Liverpool player. Nick Woltemade has officially assumed his role as Isak's replacement and has a goal to show for it, scoring in his debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, but he has big shoes to fill. He may be thrown into the deep end on Thursday against Barcelona, who have enough might without Yamal to get the job done and the benefit of not needing to integrate new faces into the mix.

🔗  Top Stories

🇵🇹 Mourinho's comeback: Nearly 25 years to the day Benfica handed Jose Mourinho his first managerial post, the Portuguese club are set to re-hire him after a stunning 3-2 loss to Qarabag in the Champions League on Tuesday.

❓ UCL burning questions: As the Champions League action continues, here's a look at the burning questions as for Real Madrid, the English teams and many more of Europe's elites.

👎 No Vinicius, big problem: Real Madrid may have won their opening Champions League fixture against Marseille but Xabi Alonso's choice to bench Vinicius Junior may have come at a cost.

🇺🇸 Weah on the scoresheet: Marseille's Tim Weah became the first American to score at the Santiago Bernabeu in the Champions League, marking a strong start for USMNT players in this season's competition.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Work in progress in North London: Both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur came out of their opening Champions League games with a win but the Gunners' attack was imperfect and Spurs have room for improvement after a very ugly win.

🆕 NWSL match resumes: The Seattle Reign and Racing Louisville resumed action on Tuesday, two days after their game was abandoned at halftime because of a medical event involving Racing's Savannah DeMelo. The player is currently stable and alert and was still undergoing testing as of Monday.

1️⃣1️⃣ NWSL team of the week: Orlando Pride's Lizbeth Ovalle leads the charge in the NWSL team of the week, while Racing Louisville's Savannah DeMelo earns an honorary spot.

🇺🇸🇮🇹 USWNT's year-end games set: The USWNT will close out 2025 with a pair of friendlies in Florida against Italy, who reached the semifinals of the Women's Euro this summer.

💰  The Back Line

💵 Best bets

  • UEFA Champions League: Bayern Munich vs. Chelsea, Wednesday, 3 p.m.
    💰 THE PICK: More than 3.5 goals scored (+128) – Wednesday's meeting between Bayern Munich and Chelsea is likely to be a competitive one, but that does not exactly mean it has to be a low-scoring one. This match could feature an impressive batch of attacking talent from both teams, Bayern's Harry Kane the obvious one but definitely not the only one. His new teammate Luis Diaz already has four goals in five games while Chelsea's Cole Palmer bagged his first goal of the season over the weekend after recovering from a short-term injury. That's without mentioning Nicolas Jackson, who could weave his own narrative into the match by scoring for Bayern against his parent club. There's definitely a reality in which there are at least four goals between these teams, which would be a fitting way to commemorate the most anticipated match of Matchday 1.

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

Matchday 1 Continues....

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UEFA Champions League Matchday 1 schedule

Wednesday, Sept. 17

Thursday, Sept. 18