GM football fans. It’s Tuesday, Sept. 16 - The Champions League league phase begins, Ballon d’Or candidates are pushing for their award, and everything else you need to know. Forwarded this email? Sign up here.

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The Uefa Champions League league phase begins on Tuesday (Sept 16), Wednesday (Sept 17), and Thursday (Sept 18), as 36 teams compete to qualify for the knockout rounds. There are eight matchdays in the league phase, with the top eight teams advancing automatically to the round of 16, while teams finishing 9th–24th will compete in a two-legged playoff for the remaining places.

Tuesday features two Premier League sides, Arsenal (away at Athletic Club) and Tottenham (home against Villarreal). Meanwhile, 15-time champions Real Madrid will begin their campaign at home to Marseille, who have won just one of their previous eight matches against Spanish clubs. Elsewhere, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund will play at the Allianz Stadium in Turin.

Wednesday arguably has the best pick of the fixtures. Reigning champions PSG host Atalanta, while finalists Inter Milan travel to Ajax. Liverpool, last season’s top seed in the league phase, open at home to Atletico Madrid. Wednesday also sees a repeat of the 2012 final as Bayern Munich host Chelsea.

Thursday’s matches see two standout fixtures in Man City against Napoli, as Kevin De Bruyne returns to the Etihad for the first time since leaving, and Newcastle welcome Barcelona to St James’ Park.

See every Champions League Matchday 1 fixture here and Opta’s predictions for each match here.

A football ‘influencer’ on Twitter, Neal Gardner, revealed that a PR agency approached him to promote Ousmane Dembele’s Ballon d’Or chances. The email, in which the sender asked for the “utmost confidentiality”, offered to pay Gardner to “strengthen the narrative around Ousmane Dembele’s candidacy.” Read the full email here.

The email has been verified by The Athletic, and the publication contacted Dembele’s team, who denied having any knowledge of such a campaign. Despite the email being sent from the PR agency’s founder, the company claimed the message was sent by an 18-year-old intern without senior approval, saying it was never intended to be carried out but rather to gauge how much a football writer might charge for such work.

Notably, the voting has already closed for the Ballon d’Or, with the winner to be announced on September 22. Still, it’s widely accepted that PR and marketing agencies often pay influencers to shape debate around events—similar to Qatar’s 2022 campaign, where fans received all-expenses-paid trips in exchange for contractually obligated positive promotion.

See a Ballon d’Or power-ranking list here.

Manchester United’s board are reportedly remaining patient with manager Ruben Amorim, despite the club enduring their worst start to a Premier League season in 33 years. United have taken just four points from their opening four games and ended last season with their lowest Premier League points tally (42) and the most league defeats in their history (15).

Following United’s 3-0 defeat at Manchester City, Amorim said he wouldn’t change his 3-4-3 system and that the club should “change the man” if they lose faith in his philosophy. "I am not going to change my philosophy,” Amorim said. “I will play my way until I want to change.” Dive deeper into how City exploited Amorim’s system here.

Since arriving at the club, Amorim’s United have won just eight of 31 Premier League games—a win percentage of 25.8%. His overall record with United is the lowest of any permanent United manager since World War II. Compare Amorim’s record to other United managers here.

> Jude Bellingham has been named in Real Madrid's 23-man squad for their opening Champions League game of the season against Marseille; he has been absent since July due to surgery on his shoulder (More)

> Chris Wilder has been appointed manager at Sheffield United for the third time after the Championship side sacked Ruben Selles following six defeats from six games (More)

> Former Barcelona defender and World Cup winner Samuel Umtiti has announced his retirement from football at age 31 (More)

> The first U.S. Open Cup semi-final, Nashville vs. Philadelphia, will take place on Tuesday (Sept 16) at 20:00 ET, while the second semi-final, Minnesota vs. Austin, kicks off on Wednesday (Sept 17) at 20:30 ET (Match Previews)

> Vancouver Whitecaps and Forge FC will play each other in the second leg of the Canadian Championship semi-finals on Tuesday (Sept 16) at 19:00 PT (or 22:00 ET) after their 2-2 draw in August (More)

> Inter Miami will host Seattle Sounders on Tuesday (Sept 16) at 19:30 ET in an MLS non-conference match-up (More)

> Racing Louisville midfielder Savannah DeMelo was stable after she was taken by ambulance after collapsing against the Seattle Reign (More)

> Brighton chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber has joined the board of Melbourne Victory (More)

Yesterday’s Poll: Tactically speaking, do you think football is going through a transition?

🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🔄 Yes (61%)

🟨 🟨 🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ 🙅‍♂️ Nope (38%)

🟨 ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ⬜️ ✍️ Other (1%)

Your punditry takes:

Man City dismiss bar worker wearing Utd shirt during derby.

Amazon to show in-game data during UCL coverage.

Meet the striker leading Messi in the Golden Boot race.

Here’s how to score without touching the ball.

Bayern Munich release their annual Oktoberfest kit.

BBC’s Premier League team of the week.

Question: Name the top five players with the most Premier League goals off the bench.

Scroll below for the answer.

UEFA Champions League

English League Cup

*All times in UK. ET -5. CDT -6. PDT -8. MDT -7. CET +1.

Answer

Jermaine Defoe. Olivier Giroud. Javier Hernandez. Kanu. Daniel Sturridge.

Daily Wordle: Guess the football-related word, from player names to classic phrases, in six tries or fewer. Play it here.