The biggest match of the Premier League’s opening weekend is last, as Manchester United welcomes Christian Pulisic and Chelsea to Old Trafford on Sunday (Watch live at 11:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com).
Well, Pulisic will be on the bench. Tammy Abraham is atop a trident Pedro, Ross Barkley, and Mason Mount.
Meanwhile, United starts new signings Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
LINEUPS
All four Premier League entrants join a quartet of La Liga squads to comprise half of the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds field.
Atletico Madrid and Atalanta scored the final two berths with wins on Wednesday, giving us the 16 teams left in the race to meet in Istanbul on May 20.
[ MORE: Premier League schedule ]
Serie A and the Bundesliga have three teams in the final 16, with Ligue 1 putting two in the fray.
Teams can neither be drawn against teams from their own domestic league nor UCL group.
Seeded teams
Barcelona
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Liverpool
Manchester City
Paris Saint-Germain
RB Leipzig
Valencia
Unseeded teams
Atalanta
Atletico Madrid
Borussia Dortmund
Chelsea
Lyon
Napoli
Real Madrid
Tottenham Hotspur
Who can PL sides draw?
Chelsea: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig
Liverpool: Atalanta, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon, Real Madrid
Manchester City: Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon, Napoli, Real Madrid
Tottenham Hotspur: Barcelona, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, Valencia
Ryan Sessegnon scored his first Spurs and Champions League goals as Tottenham Hotspur rested many of its top players in a 3-1 loss to Bayern Munich in a group stage dead rubber on Wednesday.
[ MORE: Watch full PL match replays ]
Kingsley Coman, Philippe Coutinho, and Thomas Muller scored for group-winning Bayern, who got an absolute star show out of 19-year-old Canadian left back Alphonso Davies.
Three things we learned
1. Spurs depth gets valuable time: Being a dead rubber, both teams left key components out of the fray or at least the Starting XI. Jose Mourinho left Harry Kane, Dele Alli, and Jan Vertonghen out of the 18 and both Heung-Min Son and Davinson Sanchez on the bench. That didn’t stop his men from a strong showing in a very difficult venue, though Bayern rested David Alaba and put Robert Lewandowski and Leon Goretzka on the bench to start the match.
2. Coutinho beats old nemesis again: The longtime Liverpool man was at his very best on Wednesday, and his wonderful second-half goal means he’s now scored against Spurs for Liverpool, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich (also assisting against the North Londoners while with Inter Milan). That’s also because his 14 matches against Spurs are the most he’s played against one club in his senior career.
3. Canadian super show from Davies: Alphonso Davies turned 19 just over a month ago but already looks a man in his prime. He registered an assist and hit the post in addition to making seven successful dribbles and winning five tackles, also completing almost 90 percent of his passes. There are shades of teammate David Alaba in his game. That’s high praise, but Davies potential may be higher than the Austrian.
Man of the Match: Davies was absolutely electric at left back. It’d be too easy to give it to Coutinho, who was just as good, and like Spurs manager we relish the chance to be contrarian.
Early chances were there for both sides, Paulo Gazzaniga the busier of the keepers and making a fine save on Benjamin Pavard.
Serge Gnabry tried to find Philippe Coutinho through a sea of defenders, but his pass bounded off Moussa Sissoko and onto the path of back-post residing Coman for the opener.
[ MORE: Premier League stats ]
Spurs leveled the score in the 20th minute when Sessegnon collected a deflected shot and buried it past Manuel Neuer.
Sissoko led a rush but couldn’t get cross over the fray as Spurs looked better money for a second goal.
Then Joshua Kimmich saw a yellow card for standing firm as Giovani Lo Celso wandered into him.
Bayern had the better of the final 15 minutes of the half, when Muller was in prime position to deposit Alphonso Davies’ rebound off the goal post.
Coutinho tried to put the match to bed in stoppage time, but his blazing shot from distance was touched off the bar by Gazzaniga.
He’d get his goal via another audacious shot, this time zipping a lay-off from Alphonso Davies through traffic and inside the far post.
Heung-min Son had a late breakaway saved by Neuer.
Newcastle United lightning bolt Allan Saint-Maximin is going to miss a month with a hamstring injury suffered late in the Magpies’ 2-1 defeat of Southampton at St. James’ Park.
The ebullient Saint-Maximin played deep into the match despite a minor injury, and was on of the main reasons Newcastle won. He helped set up the winning goal, but left the stadium on crutches.
That left Steve Bruce questioning his decision to keep “ASM” in the match.
[ MORE: Premier League schedule ]
Now the electric Frenchman is set to miss fixtures against Burnley, Crystal Palace, Manchester United, Everton, Leicester City, and an FA Cup third round match versus either Boston United or Rochdale.
Saint-Maximin’s absence will hurt Newcastle all-around, but especially when its counter-attack tries to take down bigger sides. His 4.5 dribbles per match makes him one of just three players in the Premier League with more than 3.1 (Adama Traore and Wilfried Zaha).
Ultimately, though, this could provide struggling Joelinton more looks at performing on the wing opposite of Miguel Almiron. The Brazilian will have to work center forward at times as Andy Carroll certainly can’t go every game, and Dwight Gayle, Christian Atsu, and Yoshinori Muto could also be asked to play prominent roles.
And, of course, this will demand much more from industrious but sloppy Miguel Almiron, whose expected goal total is 2.5 (he has zero).
Ryan Sessegnon has his first Spurs goal, which also happens to be his first UEFA Champions League goal, and he’ll love telling the tale of it.
The 19-year-old Englishman ripped a rocket past Manuel Neuer of all people, collecting a deflection to equalize early in Tottenham’s match against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
[ MORE: Premier League schedule ]
Sessegnon entered the day with an assist in 30 minutes spread across three appearances for Spurs, and needed just 20 more minutes to find a goal.
He made a big money move from Fulham this summer, having made a remarkable 120 senior appearances. Almost all of those came before he turned 19, and he’s scored 25 times with 18 assists.
Kingsley Coman has Bayern’s goal as the teams remain locked at 1 after Bayern hung 7 on Spurs in England earlier in the group stage.
