UEFA Champions League Final: How To Watch, Coverage Plan For Chelsea Vs. Manchester City

(CBS Local)- The biggest game in European soccer kicks off this Saturday with CBS bringing viewers wall-to-wall coverage of the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League Final between Chelsea and Manchester City. All coverage of the final will air on CBS Television Network and stream via Paramount+

Coverage of the all England final begins at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time with a soccer-themed edition of We Need To Talk with Tina Cervasio, Sarah Kustok, Aly Wagner and Jules Breach.

Then, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time the network presents UEFA Champions League Today, featuring host Kate Abdo with analysts Micah Richards, Jamie Carragher, and Roberto Martinez in studio. They will be joined by reporters Peter Schmeichel, Guillem Balague, Nico Cantor and Jenny Chiu who will be on the ground in Portugal at Estádio do Dragão.

This week a new European Champion will be crowned. ⚔️

CANNOT WAIT. ? pic.twitter.com/3P30K04ijf

— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) May 24, 2021

The pre-game show will be followed by the UEFA Champions League Pepsi Kickoff show at 2:40 p.m. featuring a performance from DJ and producer Marshmello in the lead up to kick off at 3 p.m.

For CBS, it marks the end of the first year of the network’s Champions League coverage and, in the lead up to Saturday’s broadcast, there has been time to reflect on the first year of coverage.

“It’s the highlight of my career. I’ve been blessed in 20 years to have worked on Super Bowls, the Masters, the Olympics, NBA Finals, virtually every big sporting event you can think of. The one sport I never worked on was this one. And it turned out this was the one sport that I grew up with,” Pete Radovich, Coordinating Producer for CBS Sports said on a media call. “All of those things that I’ve worked on I’ve been proud of. But this has been the number one most rewarding thing I’ve worked on in my career.”

UEFA Champions League Final

When: Saturday, May 29

Time: 3 p.m. ET

How To Watch: CBS, streaming on Paramount+

Radovich and the studio crew of Abdo, Richards, Carragher and Martinez have hit the ground running in Year 1 by blending analysis with fun and personality to produce a show that Richards said has been a delight to work on.

“Working with CBS has just been a breath of fresh air,” Richards said. “We can just be ourselves. It helps that we’ve got credibility of course. Jamie has won it. Peter has won it. Roberto of course has managed the number one team in the world. So we’ve got credibility there but we can all be ourselves….Pete has allowed us to be ourselves as long as we get the football side correct.”

? IT’S #UCL FINAL WEEK @micahrichards @carra23 pic.twitter.com/uOJaXhso7c

— Champions League on CBS Sports (@UCLonCBSSports) May 24, 2021

Schmeichel agreed with Richards while also pointing to the quality of the work being done behind the scenes of each broadcast that makes the difference.

“I think that’s the biggest difference. The team that actually produces this is so much bigger. And the quality of the people that work behind the scenes it does make people like us in front of the camera look a lot better,” Schmeichel said.

In addition to the traditional pre-game show, CBS Sports HQ will have two hours of coverage pre-game and post-game. There will also be a second screen experience for fans on Twitch with hosts Aaron West and Tosin Makinde.

The full schedule of coverage for Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final can be seen below. All times are Eastern.