Nothing says late summer quite like the UEFA Champions League's league phase draw. I'm Pardeep Cattry with a midweek update on the latest. Wednesday, Aug. 26🏴 EFL Cup: Tottenham Hotspur vs.
Charlton Athletic, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+🇪🇸 LaLiga: Real Madrid vs. Real Sociedad, 3 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+🇪🇺 UCL qualifying: Lyon vs. Fenerbahce, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+🇺🇸 NWSL: North Carolina Courage vs.
Angel City, 8 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Network🇺🇸🇲🇽 Leagues Cup: Club America vs. Columbus Crew, 10:45 p.m. ➡️ FS1 Thursday, Aug. 27🇪🇺 UCL league phase draw, 12 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network🏴 EFL Cup: Chelsea vs. Luton Town, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+🇪🇸 LaLiga: Barcelona vs.
Athletic Club, 3 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+ Paris Saint-Germain may still be sporting the glow that comes with winning back-to-back UEFA Champions League titles, but on Thursday the focus shifts to a new campaign with the league phase draw. The field of contenders for this season's competition is nearly set and is headlined by a batch of usual suspects – last season's finalists Arsenal are back for another stab at the title, while recent semifinalists Barcelona and Bayern Munich will also be amongst the teams to keep an eye on. Here's a list of the 32 teams that have qualified so far.
The mainstays command plenty of attention, but there are some surprise teams who enter the fold this time around. The list includes Sabah, who snapped Qarabag's streak of winning the Azerbaijan Premier League in 11 of the last 12 seasons and progressed from the first round of Champions League qualification – which began before the World Cup quarterfinals did – to ensure they would take part in Europe's top club competition for the first time in club history. LASK, meanwhile, followed up their first Austrian Bundesliga title in 60 years by booking their first-ever trip to the Champions League in remarkable fashion – they overcame a 3-0 first leg deficit to Celtic with a 5-1 win at home.
Samuel Adeniran, a Houston-born forward who bounced around Europe and the U.S. before finding a landing place in Linz, scored a brace on Tuesday to help seal the deal for LASK. One final batch of qualification matches will take place on Wednesday before the 36 teams are divided into four pots and drawn against each other on Thursday in Monaco. The action promises to be just as thrilling since all four remaining ties are tied on aggregate, including Lyon's clash with Fenerbahce after a 1-1 draw in Istanbul last week.
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