Battle of the Leagues semifinals: Premier League vs. Bundesliga, Ligue 1 vs. Serie A

We've reached the nail-biting conclusion of the group stage in ESPN's Battle of the Leagues, presented by EA Sports FIFA 22, and after bidding farewell to the four eliminated teams after the group stage -- LaLiga, Eredivisie, Major League Soccer and Liga MX -- we are ready for the semifinals. Mark Ogden's Premier League take on Gab Marcotti and the Bundesliga, while Kay Murray and her Serie A All-Stars square off against the defending champions, Julien Laurens and Ligue 1.

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You can catch up on the tournament rules and format here, then check out below to see the team selections, tactics and prematch chat before watching highlights of the matches and managers' real-time reactions.

Jump to: Semifinal 1: Ligue 1 vs. Serie A | Semifinal 2: Bundesliga vs. Premier League | Results & match stats

SEMIFINAL 1

LIGUE 1 vs. SERIE A

MANAGERS' PREMATCH BRIEFINGS

Julien Laurens (Ligue 1)

"Now that we're into the business end of the competition with a place in the final at stake, I will of course bring my "A" game again. The Bundesliga game didn't matter to us as we had already topped the group, but I was still happy with the team's performance despite a last-minute defeat. However, for this huge game, I'm going back to my strongest team and tactics. We are reverting to our trademark 4-3-3 formation, and all of our key players are back.

"I have to make a big call this week between Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi. Considering the lack of pace in the Italian defence, I think it would be great to play Mbappe from the start with Messi able to come off the bench if needed. I don't think this Serie A side is very good -- I don't rate their manager much either, to be fair -- so if we are focused and serious, we will go through to the final. We have so much talent in our squad and plenty left to give.

"The best is definitely yet to come from us, and hopefully Serie A will push us a bit so we finally have a bit of competition in this tournament. It has been far too easy for us up to this point, but I have a lot of faith in my players and feel confident we'll reach our second final in a row."

Kay Murray (Serie A)

"After having a settled team and formation through the group stage, it's time to change things up against Ligue 1. We are going with a back five to try to negate the world-class attack that Ligue 1 -- aka Paris Saint-Germain -- has up front.

"I'm taking advantage of the depth of defensive options available to me in Serie A -- what other league would be able to bring a player of Giorgio Chiellini off the bench after reaching the semifinals without him?

"But we should still be able to maintain balance throughout the side to make sure there's enough firepower in our attack, with Paulo Dybala moving up to join Ciro Immobile in the the front two."

TEAMS & TACTICS

Ligue 1: 4-3-3 (with holding midfielder), balanced (attack), balanced (defence)

First XI: Anthony Lopes; Hamari Traore, Marquinhos, Jason Denayer, Hassane Kamara; Houssem Aouar, Benjamin Andre, Renato Sanches; Kylian Mbappe, Wissam Ben Yedder, Neymar

Substitutes: Pau Lopez, Youcef Atal, Lionel Messi, Gelson Martins, Boubacar Kamara, Tiago Djalo, Andy Delort

Serie A: 5-2-1-2, balanced (attack), constant pressure (defence)

First XI: Samir Handanovic; Juan Cuadrado, Milan Skriniar, Kalidou Koulibaly, Giorgio Chiellini, Theo Hernandez; Franck Kessie, Nicolo Barella; Sergej Milinkovic-Savic; Paulo Dybala, Ciro Immobile

Substitutes: Mike Maignan, Leonardo Spinazzola, Luis Alberto, Kostas Manolas, Federico Chiesa, Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne.