UEFA Champions League

Tuesday was a remarkable day for U.S. Soccer abroad as six different Americans started for their respective club team in the UEFA Champions League.

In the build up to Manchester United’s top-of-the-table Champions League Group F clash with Villarreal at El Madrigal, caretaker manager Michael Carrick revealed that his revolution would be a subtle one; blink and you just might miss it.

“Obviously I’ve worked closely with Ole for a long time now and we do have very similar beliefs,” the defeatist inside Carrick said. “We did as players and we certainly do as coaches and manager so, yes of course, I’ve got my own personality to Ole, but it’s very similar.”

There’s something about snow that brings out both the beauty and the pain of this world. Few things in life are more beautiful than watching frozen water crystals fall to the Earth, transforming the landscape. Few things in life are more painful than taking a blow to the crotch in below-freezing weather, altering your entire world view. Few things in life are more beautiful than a perfectly executed bicycle kick; few things in life are more painful than a complete whiff by a goalkeeper. 

PARIS — Paris Saint-Germain defender Sergio Ramos is primed to play his first match in over six months after being named in the squad for Wednesday's Champions League Group A clash away to Manchester City.

The Parisian squad for #MCIPSG!

@ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/VhuTOWSwJp

Defending UEFA Women’s Champions League winner Barcelona booked its place in the quarterfinals with a 5-0 away destruction of Hoffenheim on Wednesday, bringing the team’s group-stage record to played four, won four, scored 15 and conceded one (remember that the group also contains WSL power Arsenal).

Back on Oct. 5 on the competition’s opening matchday, a 4-1 victory over the Gunners highlighted the unmatched style and quality of the Blaugranes’ play, and Wednesday was another reminder of the club’s current superiority over the rest of Europe.     

One day after being named to Vlatko Andonovski’s USWNT squad for a pair of friendlies against Australia at the end of the month, 22-year-old midfielder Catarina Macario played a huge role in Lyon’s comeback victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Bayern took the lead in the 25th minute at Groupama Stadium after Kadeisha Buchanan scored an own goal with Carina Wenninger lurking.  

On Tuesday, PSG hammered Real Madrid 4-0 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League with 26-year-old France international Aminata Diallo starting in the defensive midfield role.

Thirty-one-year-old France international Kheira Hamraoui — Diallo’s direct competition for the spot — had started PSG’s first two UWCL games, but Hamraoui had been ruled out of the match due to injuries sustained following an assault by two masked individuals last week that left her requiring stitches.