Recommended Matches 2/6/26 -- Return of the Champions League

After last week's bonanza of matches, this weekend has a calm-before-the-storm feeling to it in Europe (although Mexico is getting a shockingly high-quality triple-header on Monday), as the UEFA Champion's League returns in midweek next time around, We'll be splitting the recommendations into two parts because of that. 

As with the last two weeks of recommendations, a key WSL match between giants is, by far, our lead match. I promise I'm not an English football chauvinist, it's just that the triumvirate of Arsenal, Manchester City, and Chelsea all got scheduled to play each other three weeks in a row. (Not that I can promise I won't do another WSL match next week but it won't be far and away the leader like this time.)

WEEKEND MATCHES

1. Arsenal-Manchester City (Sun 7am EST, ESPN+/Youtube) - Everything has gone right for Manchester City since the start of the year, and they currently sit on top of the WSL with an 11-point lead over Manchester United with just eight matches to go. The one fly in the ointment: Arsenal have a game in hand, and if Arsenal win both this match and the game in hand, it'll be a seven-point lead with seven matches to go. In other words, this is essentially a must-win for the Gunners for ANY kind of title race.

But Arsenal are in the middle of an extremely distracting stretch of matches where they just won one international tournament last week – the FIFA Champion's Cup – and are preparing for a European tie this midweek against OH Leuven. This is the exciting part of the season. Or potentially disastrous, but that's why it's exciting.

2. Chelsea-Spurs (Sun 9:25am EST, ESPN+/Youtube) - Speaking of disasters, 2026 has been one for Chelsea, thanks to consecutive league defeats to rivals Arsenal and Man City (mitigated slightly by defeating City in the League Cup semis, but Chelsea's not in this to win League Cups). This season, on the other hand, has been sensational for Tottenham Hotspur, going from relegation contenders in previous years to Champions League contenders this time. A win for Spurs would firmly put them in that conversation, and Chelsea would be in crisis.

Keep an eye on American defender Naomi Girma here, if she even starts, she looked like the best defender in the world at the 2024 Olympics but has been kind of a disaster for Chelsea since her record-breaking move there. Girma will be up against new Spurs signing Signe Gaspert as well as legendary English forward Beth England, yes, she has played for England with that name, I swear to God this is real. 

3. PSG-Paris FC (Sat 3pm EST, DAZN) - From the London derby to the Paris derby. PSG remain desperate for points following their penalty over the winter break, while Paris FC isn't safe in either the Champions League or the French playoff standings (top 4). This is usually a defensive battle of a fixture, but a draw suits no one. PFC's Clara Mateo will run at defenders all night long, so watch for her on the counter.

4. America-Cruz Azul (Mon 4:45pm EST, Vix/Youtube) - Scarlett Camberos and America are pushing for top of the table, while Cruz Azul is trying to establish itself as a consistent playoff team. We're in the sickos-only section of the recommendations, but hey, I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't a sicko. I hope you like Mexican football because they put together a great triple-header.

5. Monterrey-Toluca (Mon 9pm EST, Vix/Youtube) - There should be a distinct European flair to this match, where Spanish star Lucia Garcia leads Monterrey against Toluca and their steadily-increasing stable of European stars, with just-added Sofia Jakobssen joining Eugenie Le Sommer and Amandine Henry. Toluca, from the outside, looks like a team that's trying to quickly improve by throwing money at big names, so I'm fascinated by them (and also I think Le Sommer is just forever a joy to watch).

6. Juventus-Como (Sat 9am EST, DAZN)- Despite my picking Juve for the next superclub status, they're in the middle of a dogfight for the second Champions League slot in Italy, with seven clubs separated by seven points – Como is at the bottom of that pack. Both Juve and Como made several moves in the transfer deadline, with Juve in particular sending three goalkeepers out, including starter Pauline Peyraud-Mignon, while Como added legendary Italian striker Valentina Giacinti. 

7. Chivas-Pumas (Mon 7pm EST, Vix/Youtube) - My standards for this project are this: are there two good teams with something significant to play for going up against one another? Chivas de Guadelajara currently lead Liga MX F, while Pumas are in the playoff spots. Maybe I should relax this a bit. On the other hand, maybe I'll love this match. Maybe you'll love it too. 

MIDWEEK MATCHES

The UEFA Champions League returns with the first leg of four ties of its wildcard round (seeds 5-12 from the League Phase, Chelsea, Lyon, Barca, and Bayern all have byes). All these are worth watching; this is probably the highest level of competition and intensity in global club football alongside the NWSL playoffs, but if you're going to prioritize any, I have a ranking. 

I'll also be doing an explainer for the Champions League in about 10 days, if that helps. In the US, all matches will be on Paramount+

1. Wolfsburg-Juventus (Thu 12:45pm EST, Paramount+) - All of these ties have one of my rated superclubs going against a borderline superclub. This one, pitting rebuilding German giants VfL Wolfsburg and Alexandra Popp against Juventus of Turin and Christiana Girella, is my pick for the most likely to have an upset. But really all of the top three here are equally strong. 

2. Atletico-Man Utd (Thu 3pm EST, Paramount+) - These are two somewhat similar clubs in overall European context. Both are long-time men's football powers who are currently trying to catch up to the giants who are dominating their leagues, and both are currently in tough positions in the league where they're not at all guaranteed seeing Champions League football next season, so their attention will be split between continental and domestic competition.

The core difference: Manchester United have several more world-class stars than Atletico, and I'd expect the likes of Frida Rolfo, Lea Schuller, and Ella Toone to win comfortably. On the other hand, Atletico isn't completely lacking in class, particularly their Brazilian forward contingent of Gio and Luany, so United has to watch out for the counter.

3. Real Madrid-Paris FC (Wed 3pm EST, Paramount+) - While Real Madrid are the superclub with the superstars like Linda Caicedo and Caroline Weir, I think the defensively solid Paris FC will fancy their chances at frustrating Madrid and hitting them on the break once again via Clara Mateo, who's becoming the main character of this week's column. She's really good, fast, and smart, and can create chances out of almost nothing!

4. Arsenal-Leuven (Wed 12:45pm EST, Paramount+) - Belgian champions OH Leuven became the darlings of the League Phase by fighting hard against much bigger teams and sneaking into the last knockout spot, thanks particularly to the heroics of goalkeeper Lowiese Seynhaeve. Their reward is a knockout tie against the defending champions Arsenal, and in particular, an Arsenal side that beat them 3-0 in the final match of the league. 

I do not rate Leuven's chances highly here, but if I wanted to give them hope, I'd note that Arsenal are playing a heavy schedule against tough competition across five different tournaments in the last month alone, with, since January 10th, matches against Man Utd, Aston Villa in the FA Cup, United again in the League Cup, Chelsea, AS Far and Corinthians in the Champions Cup, Manchester City, and then Leuven. Stout defense and aggressive attacks against tired legs have caused many an upset before.

IN OTHER NEWS

The European transfer deadline came and went, and it was, in some ways, oddly quiet, while in others, record-breaking. The quiet part of it was that very few absolutely top-level players changed teams: Lea Schuller from Bayern to Man Utd, Sam Coffey from Portland to Man City, Ludmila from Chicago to San Diego, and Delphine Cascarino from San Diego to London City on a free. Ludmila's deal is the only one that reached $1 million if conditions are met, although Schuller's fee wasn't announced. (The Washington Spirit also spent $950,000 on Paraguayan Claudia Martinez, although I wouldn't say she's world-class yet, both I and clearly the Spirit believe she will be.) In fact the biggest transfer story in women's soccer was probably a player who didn't go anywhere, Trinity Rodman.

Which means that the new record of over $10 million in total transfers was largely fueled by normal players having normal transfers all over the world. In 2025, the stars drove up the prices, in 2026 so far, the rising tide is carrying all ships. (Hopefully this also applies to salaries as well!)

The other major transfer window story I noticed is that it seems like almost every NWSL team got at least slightly worse. This was perhaps expected given the appearance of two new expansion clubs but oddly the teams that maintained almost all of their starting lineup, even added to it, were the two finalists in Washington and Gotham, whose addition of Savannah McCaskill seems like a big win. Overseas talent does not seem to have flooded in to replace, let alone surpass, the players lost.

One overseas player who did come to NWSL is American-Mexican player Aaliyah Farmer, who exited Mexican champions Tigres in large part due to fan harassment. This corresponded with The Athletic publishing a major examination of the harassment that women's football players face (free archive version here). A lot of women's football, particularly when it's attached to clubs most famous for men's teams, sits at an intersection of fan obsession with relatively vulnerable young women. Add in sports gambling being available almost everywhere and it's a toxic stew that teams and leagues should get ahead of. 

In on-field news, Barcelona played Real Madrid twice in the Clasico across two different cups – the Supercopa and the Copa del Reina – and won both times. While neither of these cups would be Madrid's chief focus compared to La Liga or the Champions League, those are two more trophies they won't win, while their rivals continue to succeed. 

GOAL OF THE WEEK.

Manchester City's Kerolin-inspired thrashing of Chelsea also included the Brazilian winger with a picture-perfect breakaway for her second goal. As a striker, getting the ball on a breakaway can be a mixture of exhilarating and terrifying, as adrenaline demands speed and power in ways that can make you forget to do the right thing. Kerolin may be an emotional player but she played with superb control upon receiving the ball, first swerving in front of the chasing defender to make being overtaken unlikely, then seeing the goalkeeper charge out sliding and dinking the ball right over her.