Soccer on TV: Chelsea-Leicester City has big Champions League implications

Tuesday, 3:15 p.m. (NBCSN, Universo)

With two weeks to go in the English Premier League season, there’s suddenly a wild race for the last two UEFA Champions League berths. Leicester is in third place with 66 points, and Christian Pulisic’s Chelsea is in fourth with 64. But fifth-place Liverpool has jumped up to fifth with 63 points, helped by goalkeeper Alisson scoring a stunning winner against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.

There’s also this plot twist: Leicester beat Chelsea in Saturday’s FA Cup final, winning the trophy for the first time in club history. Will the Foxes get caught with a hangover? If they do, it could prove costly.

Liverpool’s next game is Wednesday at Burnley (3:15 p.m., NBCSN, Universo), which is down in 15th place but has little to play for since it doesn’t have to worry about relegation.

» READ MORE: Jack Elliott survives head injury scare to continue as Union defense’s iron man

Wednesday, 3:15 p.m. (beIN Sports, beIN Sports Español)

The French Cup final features the second- and third-place teams in Ligue 1, but this is no ordinary big-team matchup. Third-place Monaco hasn’t won a trophy since 2017, and hasn’t won the Coupe de France since 1991. (Its front office includes an American, Tyler Heaps, who used to be the U.S. Soccer Federation’s director of sporting analytics.)

Paris Saint-Germain is trying to win a trophy in a season during which it fell short in the Champions League and trails leader Lille in Ligue 1. But the league title race isn’t over yet, thanks to Lille surprisingly being held to a scoreless tie at home by Saint-Étienne on Sunday. It’s hard to believe PSG will hold anything back for this game, but let’s see.

Wednesday, 3 p.m. (ESPN2, ESPN Deportes)

Like with PSG, the Coppa Italia final is Juventus’ best shot at a trophy this season. Manager Andrea Pirlo is on the hot seat and could be fired after just one season even though his squad is far from perfect. (He likes Weston McKennie, though, which has been good for the American midfielder.)

Atalanta has had another terrific season, in second place in Serie A with a game to go. Now the club from Bergamo – one of the Italian regions hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, by the way – is one win from its first major trophy since 1963.

» READ MORE: Dániel Gazdag officially joins the Union after winning the Hungarian league’s player of the season award

Thursday, 8 p.m. (beIN Sports, beIN Sports Español)

Let’s get this out of the way first for readers who don’t follow the Copa Libertadores: no, the Barcelona here isn’t the one in Spain. It’s the one in Guyaquil, Ecuador. It’s named after the Spanish giant, but they aren’t officially related.

Barcelona’s squad includes southern California native Michael Hoyos, a 29-year-old winger who has played for Argentina’s youth national teams, and could have been at the under-20 World Cup had he not been in a car crash in 2011. He recently told Soccer America that he’d like to play in MLS some day and would gladly play for the U.S. national team, though he knows the odds are slim at his age.

Hoyos has helped Barcelona to first place in the group through four games with nine points. The big story here, though, is Boca being in third place with six points, trailing Brazil’s Santos on goal difference. It’s a one-game gap, but this might just be a must-win for Boca at home.