Champions League

A UEFA Executive Committee meeting in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana has hashed out some future Champions League final locations, so we can now confirm sites for 2021, 2022 and 2023. This year’s final will be staged in Istanbul, and then Ol’ Big Ears will travel to Saint Petersburg, Munich and London over the course of the following three competitions. 

The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019 went down in Milan today, and you can rest assured that The18 tried its best to watch on YouTube, but good lord, this stuff is mostly unwatchable. It's remarkably drawn out, full of self-aggrandizing nonsense from FIFA and the forced banter between hosts Ilaria D'Amico, Ruud Gullit and the guests makes you search for the mute button while your skin crawls.

But other than that it's pretty good! 

Let’s go to the green carpet for some select photos before the ceremony. Here’s Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe looking fly. 

Bayern Munich was on its way to an easy victory over Red Star Belgrade to open Champions League Group B play at the Allianz Arena in Munich on Wednesday. Then it decided to pull out one extra little trick to add a bit of goal difference.

After controlling nearly three-quarters of possession and not allowing Red Star a single shot on goal, Thomas Müller scored in the 91st minute to give Bayern Munich a 3-0 win. 

The Müller goal vs Red Star was totally unnecessary, but it was fun to watch.

A lot of the pregame hype for Juventus vs. Atlético Madrid surrounded the matchup between Portugal’s past-and-current king, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Portugal’s future king, João Félix.

But the match was decided by the matchup between Mexico’s Héctor Herrera and former Arsenal man Aaron Ramsey, two second-half substitutes.

An excellent Ángel Di María brace spearheaded PSG to a 3-0 victory over Real Madrid on Wednesday night, giving belief to Parisians that this is finally their year. On the other side of things, Zinedine Zidane’s greatest nightmare came to fruition as he was forced to watch James Rodríguez and Gareth Bale attempt to orchestrate an attack that finished with zero shots on goal.  

You may have missed it with all the games on, but RB Salzburg manager Jesse Marsch made history on Tuesday. After an emphatic 6-2 victory over Belgian side KRC Genk, Marsch became the first coach from the United States to not only coach a Champions League match, but to win one.

Napoli downed visiting Liverpool in their Champions League opener 2-0 in a tight match until the game slipped away in the final minutes.

Both sides looked evenly matched throughout with a box score to prove. Aside from a few offside calls and sloppy tackling by the Italian side, the team stats were all near identical.

Both keepers played phenomenal but Napoli’s Alex Meret would come away with the clean sheet in his Champions League debut.

Liverpool’s defense of its Champions League crown is off to a shaky start following a 2-0 defeat to Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo in Italy on Tuesday. Liverpool supporters will disagree with the game-changing penalty that Felix Brych awarded Napoli in the 82nd minute, but it certainly wasn’t a vintage performance from the Reds.

After sitting on the bench in Euro qualifying for Germany over the recent international break, Marc-André ter Stegen expressed frustration in being stuck behind Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer in the pecking order to be Germany’s No. 1. After watching Ter Stegen vs Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday, it’s hard to argue he shouldn’t usurp Neuer.

Ter Stegen made four saves, including one on a penalty kick and a massive double save to help Barcelona draw Borussia Dortmund 0-0 in the Champions League group-stage opener for both clubs on Tuesday in Dortmund.