The Champions League on TNT has had its share of snafus. But what we saw on Tuesday might have been the toughest to watch for fans of the beautiful game.
Turner Sports has not proven a great steward of the world’s most popular annual tournament since taking over the U.S. broadcast rights from FOX starting with the 2018-19 season.
Liverpool advanced to the Champions League Round of 16 in the most fraught style imaginable, relying on Mohamed Salah’s brilliant solo goal to triumph 1-0 over a Napoli side that spent the majority of the match mirroring the laissez-faire demeanor of manager Carlo Ancelotti.
I imagine that Ancelotti and Napoli spent all manner of time preparing for the threat of Liverpool and Salah, but it really doesn’t matter when you point the Egyptian on a straight path toward your goal.
People like to blast Neymar for diving, and usually for good reason, as the Brazilian has a tendency to embellish as he’s often the target of physical play from defenders.
But sometimes he makes opponents take dives as well.
During Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League match with Red Star Belgrade, Neymar flummoxed keeper Milan Borjan with a feint before finishing with aplomb.
PSV Eindhoven hadn’t done much in way of attacking in the opening 10 minutes of its Champions League match with Inter Milan. But one awful giveaway later, this Hirving Lozano goal vs Inter put the Dutch club on top.
In the 13th minute of their Group B match in Milan, Steven Bergwijn took advantage of some sloppy play in the back to gain possession in the attacking third. He quickly found Chucky Lozano darting into the box and the Mexico international headed the cross past Samir Handanovic for the game’s first goal.