Champions League is wide open ahead of PSG vs. Borussia Dortmund; Lionel Messi makes history in Miami again

Welcome to the start of another week filled to the brim with some of the biggest Football matches you'll see this season. We've got more high octane European semifinals, starting with two thrilling posed Champions League second legs. My name's James Benge, let's get into it!

📺 Footy fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Monday, May 6
🇸🇦 Pro League: Al Ahli vs. Al Hilal, 2 p.m. ➡️ Fox Soccer Plus
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EPL: Crystal Palace vs. Manchester United, 3 p.m. ➡️ USA Network
🇫🇷 Ligue 1: Lille vs. Lyon, 3 p.m. ➡️ beIN Sports

Tuesday, May 7
🇪🇺 Champions League: Paris Saint-Germain vs. Borussia Dortmund, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+

⚽ The Forward Line

🏆 Champions League up for grabs

The last step on the road to Wembley lies ahead of four teams this week, none of whom have been conclusively eliminated from contention at the halfway mark of the semifinals. Paris Saint-Germain have the most work to do and perhaps the most to fear if they fail to overcome their first leg deficit against Borussia Dortmund at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday. Falling to a team they were such heavy favorites against would bring enough questions in the first place, that it would almost certainly be their last dance with Kylian Mbappe will only heighten the sense that PSG's wait for European glory is not ending any time soon.

Their task will be harder without Lucas Hernandez, the center back paying a heavy price for his attempts to deny Niclas Fullkrug the winner in the Westfalenstadion last week. He will miss not only the run in but Euro 2024 and Luis Enrique does not have anyone quite as solid to take his place, with Lucas Beraldo expected to step in ahead of Milan Skriniar. Still, further forward there are fairly easy tweaks for the coaching staff to make that may pay dividend, as Jonathan Johnson noted after the first leg.

• Johnson: "Expect Luis Enrique to tweak his attacking approach slightly going into that one with Mbappe's positioning and involvement much better in the second half and [Ousmane] Dembele in need of a slightly more clinical edge in front of goal. Randal Kolo Muani's cameo was interesting in terms of workrate but it might be Goncalo Ramos' predatory touch which makes the difference next week depending on Paris' approach to the scenario which still favors PSG -- just about."

Get Mbappe right and it may not matter if Julian Ryerson repeats his impressive display from leg one. PSG might just have enough going for them to be slight favorites.

Don't miss more from Johnson as he looks at PSG's homefield advantage.

It looks like the same equation for the home team on Wednesday night when Real Madrid host Bayern Munich after their exhilarating, somewhat chaotic, 2-2 draw in the Allianz Arena last time out. Vinicius Junior twice punished mistakes from Min-Jae Kim, scrubbing out a bright second half from the Bavarians where Leroy Sane and Harry Kane had thrust them into the lead. That was rather Bayern's season in microcosm, some of the best underlying metrics in Europe undone by clumsy work at the back. The outgoing Thomas Tuchel was all too prepared to make that implication clear, criticizing Kim for being "greedy" in his defending.

Bayern proved that when they get their defending right, they can do quite the number on Madrid, but we have long since reached the stage where it seems shrewd to price in some some of that mastery of their own fortune that Carlo Ancelotti's side show on nights like this. Madrid survived late onslaughts from RB Leipzig and Manchester City to get this far, might there just be something about this competition that give them the remorseless self belief to manufacture what would look like luck for anyone else? There'll be more time to discuss this game in Wednesday's newsletter, but for now get hyped people. This is the good stuff.

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🔗 Midfield Link Play

🤩 Messi rains down the assists to make history

I'm going to start by quibbling with just how assist-y some of those assists were -- Matias Rojas had quite a bit to do when his captain rolled him the ball at 1-0 down to New York Red Bulls -- but when you put up five of them it's probably going to be the case that the scorer has to do the brunt of the work at least once or twice. Anyway, the brilliance with which Messi played in Luis Suarez for Inter Miami's fifth was worth two assists as he drove through midfield with his No.9 and stopped in time to find space on the edge of the box to play a killer pass.

For the first time in MLS history, a player registered six goal involvements in a game: teeing up Suarez to register a hat trick, laying on another for Rojas and delivering one of those delicate clipped finishes across the goalkeeper to get on the scoresheet himself. Meanwhile, Inter Miami records are being obliterated before Messi has even reached a calendar year in Florida. He is already the all-time assist leader at the Herons, and with 23 goals from 25 games it is a matter of when, not if, he obliterates Gonzalo Higuain's high-water mark of 29.

That Messi would be the best player MLS had ever seen was never in doubt when he landed in Miami last summer. The only question was whether he would still be motivated to be the best version of himself having left Europe behind. The 36 year old might just be that and his team mates can attest to the standards it is driving from them. Rojas spoke to Deporte Total USA after the match on how great the demands are when you play with the great man.

• Rojas: "It's a big responsibility. There are two ways to approach playing with him, you can either sink or you can swim. In my opinion, he is the best in history. You can either play with the fact he will not understand your pressure or you let it go, and he solves all that with what he does. That pass to me for my second goal was something I didn't expect, but it makes it easier for you. You need to take advantage of that chemistry, and me and the team did just that."

No wonder Inter Miami are three points clear at the top of the Eastern Conference with a record of six wins and a draw from the seven games their best player has started. Messi seems to be in the mood. "I don't think we will ever see anything like that again," said Miami's head coach Tata Martino after the game. If Messi feels like it, though, we might just.

🔗  Top Stories

🏁 Premier League title race going all the way: There's nothing stopping Arsenal and Manchester City in England right now. The Gunners looked outstanding in victory over Bournemouth, so did their nearest rivals when they crushed Wolverhampton Wanderers a few hours later.

🥇 Champions of Spain: It's been coming for a while but Real Madrid's 36th La Liga title was confirmed Saturday as Barcelona lost to Girona, a result that means both Catalan clubs have qualified for the Champions League.

🇮🇹 Change afoot at Juventus: The Old Lady of Italian football will also be back in the big time next season but that does not mean that Massimiliano Allegri will keep his job.

💰 Championship regular season concluded: Saturday brought the final regular season matches of the Championship season. Ipswich Town, who were in League One last season, joined Leicester City in the Premier League while Tom Brady's Birmingham City crashed down into the third tier, and then got roasted for it by Bill Belic

↕️ Titles, UEFA, relegation and promotion: Which teams have done what so far across Europe's top five leagues with just weeks to go?

✅ UCL 24-25: Who has qualified, who risks missing out and what to know ahead of the new format changes from next season.

💰 The Back Line

💵 Best bet

• Premier League: Crystal Palace vs. Manchester United, Monday, 3 p.m.
• 💰 THE PICK: Crystal Palace to win and three or more goals in the game (+190) -- Oliver Glasner's appointment at Selhurst Park has breathed new life into Crystal Palace, winners of three of their last four in the Premier League, the other a draw at Fulham. Meanwhile Erik ten Hag's continued presence seems to be throttling Manchester United, a club now in real danger of collapsing out of the European places altogether. That pressure might energise them at Selhurst Park tonight but even in those circumstances, can one of the Premier League's worst defenses really hope to slow Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise?

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