Liverpool

In the soccer world, one of the best sights for sore eyes is the return of the Champions League.

Sometimes, watching Champions League teams playing league cup matches against weak opposition can be really dull after a while. For example, Manchester City’s 9-0 drubbing of Burton Albion a few weeks ago. In a lot of ways, European soccer without Champions League becomes kind of monotonous. At some point between the last Champions League group stage match and the start of the Round of 16, soccer fans will be wondering when the tournament will start up again.

If you’ve paid attention to internet trends over the past few days or so, you will notice something known as the #10YearChallenge. The basic premise of it is that people post pictures of themselves from 2009 and another from 2019 to show the world how much they’ve changed — in appearance or otherwise. 

The 2018-19 season has been packed full of drama, emotions and even comedy. What happens on the pitch is usually in focus — players making tackles, scoring goals, playing beautiful soccer; all of that takes the cake in media attention. But managers get that attention too. After a goal or an important moment in a match, the camera always pans to the manager, showing their jubilation, anger or their stoicness. 

She said it, and viewers felt it, because NBCSN gets it.

“Best game of the season by a country mile,” Rebecca Lowe said as the NBCSN coverage of Manchester City’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool moved from the announcers in the booth at the Etihad back to the studio analysts stateside. 

The best match of the season, perhaps the most important match of the season, had all the gravitas expected of such an event on Thursday because NBCSN continues to show it is the best soccer broadcaster in America.