UEFA Champions League @ ESPN Deportes.

ESPN Deportes began it’s coverage of the 2004 UEFA Champions League season this week by featuring Europe’s best clubs, including defending champions FC Porto, FC Barcelona, Juventus FC, Liverpool, Manchester United FC and Real Madrid CF.

ESPN Deportes, which will offer more UEFA Champions League matches than any television network in the U.S., will provide extensive, season-long coverage from the group stage through the final match. In total, ESPN Deportes will offer coverage of 77 matches and up 186 original hours of UEFA Champions League programming. Each match day, the network will televise selected matches LIVE, while featuring the remaining matches on short turnaround or tape delay.

“UEFA Champions League is a showcase for the best soccer players in the world, including many from Latin America,” said Lino Garcia, general manager, ESPN Deportes. “Many of our viewers are passionate soccer fans, and ESPN Deportes is proud to deliver season-long coverage of this great competition.”

The ESPN Deportes coverage of UEFA Champions League will include three teams of announcers made up of ESPN broadcasting veteran Luis Omar Tapia (play-byplay), Diego Balado (analysis), Randy Alvarez (play-by-play) and soccer legend Mario Kempes, who will be making his debut as UEFA Champions League analyst. ESPN Deportes commentator Jose Hernandez (play-by-play) and Claudio Jijon (analysis) will compose a third telecast team to handle increased schedule of games.