UEFA CL 6/9/2022

The Blaugranas await the Czech boys as Inter Milan faces off against Bayern, and Liverpool can spark their season far away in Naples. 

The rest of the games would happen on Wednesday night when Club Brugge and Leverkusen square off at the Jan Breydel stadium. Ajax will lock horns with Rangers, and Marseille also starts their campaign at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

 

Atletico Madrid gets their CL season underway at the Wanda Metropolitano. They have been disappointing since the season's commencement. Despite the attacking talent in Simeone's arsenal, he has failed to get the best out of his team. Their football has been 'negative', and the brand of football has not met expectations. 

They come up against FC Porto, who can be very tricky. Jan Oblak is unavailable owing to a thigh injury. Savic could miss this through injury, and defender Felipe also misses the tie because of last season's double yellow against Manchester City. 

Porto has struggled too. They have picked up four wins out of five in the Primera Liga. Given Atletico's defensive injuries, FC Porto can cause problems with Taremi and Galeno leading the line. Sergio Conceicao will be buoyed by his 2-0 win over the weekend coming into this tie. 

                            

The Italian giants lost the Milan derby last weekend. They stay at the San Siro to welcome the Bavarians - who have not lost at the Giuseppe Meazza in three attempts against Internazionale. Julian Nagelsmann will set up his side in a predicted 4-2-3-1 lineup. New boy Sadio Mane will lead the line; Goretzka and Muller, who came off the bench in Saturday's standoff against Union Berlin, could be in contention to make the starting lineup come tomorrow evening.

However, Simone Inzaghi cannot let Bayern off the hook. He must get it tactically right against the Germans - his 3-5-2 approach should be enough to set this one up for an
enthralling encounter.  

                               

Antonio Conte will welcome the Ligue 1 giants Marseille in a Group D fixture where Europa league winners Eintracht Frankfurt and Sporting Lisbon face off. Marseille has some ex-gunners on their squad who are in contention to start when they come against Harry Kane's Spurs. Conte has not changed much of his philosophy as he has kept a 3-4-2-1 formation to match his opponents. 

Competitively, Marseille has recorded twelve defeats against English opposition before their tie against Spurs. A daunting task, however, Igor Tudor has the arsenal to hurt Conte's charges. He bolstered his squad with Bailly and Tavares. Amin Harrit, Cedric Bakambu, and Alexis Sanchez can come off the bench to bring some spark to change things. 

Liverpool travels to Naples as this is Klopp's fifth meeting against the Italian colossus Napoli. Injuries have beset Klopp's side this season. The football has not been sleek, and the defence has laboured since the start. Van Dijk and Matip look the pair likely to start with Trent and Robertson flanking them at the back. Victor Osimhen will be a torture to this defence all evening. Lozano and Kvaratskhelia will play behind him to set the attack for Luciano Spaletti's side. An away victory at Lazio over the weekend should motivate Spaletti and his boys in the fixture.

Napoli has started the season well - they have a hugely experienced man in Spaletti and pose a threat to Klopp's Liverpool. Salah has struggled despite creating the most chances in the English Premier League this season. Nunez could get the nod, and Arthur could make his debut for Liverpool at the Stadio Diego Amando Maradona. Both coaches have met once; Klopp came out the victor. 

Barcelona will be at the Spotify Camp Nou when Viktoria Plzen visit. Xavi has the squad to compete for the trophy but finds himself in the possible group of death in Group C. Last season's Europa League finalists Rangers will travel to Amsterdam to face Ajax in the group opener in an early kickoff. 

Early kickoff - 4:55 pm GMT:

Ajax vs Rangers

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Sporting Lisbon

The rest of the games - 7:00 pm GMT:

Atletico Madrid vs FC Porto

Barcelona vs FC Viktoria Plzen

Club Brugge vs Bayer Leverkusen

Inter Milan vs Bayern Munich

Napoli vs Liverpool

Tottenham Hotspur vs Marseille

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2022/23

 

UCL Preview; Chelsea travels to Croatia, and Celtic square off against holders Real Madrid as Erling Haaland hopes to continue his rich goal-scoring form for Man City 

Another Champions League season is upon us. The elite clubs in Europe gun for the coveted UCL trophy. There have been some great qualification games over the past few weeks. Benfica, Celtic, Rangers and Dinamo Zagreb with blistering campaigns during the qualifiers - that drive and energy will be needed when business starts tomorrow. 

On Tuesday evening, Chelsea will make their way to Croatia as they face off against Dinamo Zagreb. Though being the heaviest spenders in the just-ended transfer window, Chelsea has not hit top gear all season. They make this trip with two losses and a draw in their first six games. Dinamo Zagreb has only lost once in their last six games and has failed to keep a clean sheet in the previous ten games. That notwithstanding, Chelsea has not shown a clinical touch in the final third. 

Dinamo Zagreb had a good run in the Europa League last season. They recorded wins against Sevilla and West Ham as they reached the quarter-finals. Orsic has been the best player on the Croatian team. Mendy has not been great in the post for the blues. Hopefully, their new signing Aubameyang will provide the goal-scoring threat Chelsea needs.   

Erling Haaland will hope to continue his goal-scoring form when Manchester City visits the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan. He has ten goals already in only six premier league games. Sevilla suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Barcelona over the weekend. Julen Lopetegui's side has just one point in the league. The transfer of Jules Kounde and Diego Carlos away from the club has caused Sevilla. Manchester City can test the Spanish side and could leave their record of not losing their first day-group games in their last six attempts in danger when City visits. Pep Guardiola's side dropped two points against Aston Villa. The Los Palanganas need to triple the efforts to get a win against the sky blues. 

PSG will turn their attention to the UCL when they face off against Juventus. The manager of the Italian giants, Maximilliano Allegri, has been pessimistic about the encounter. Pogba will be absent, but Di Maria could reunite with his former teammates. Allegri has given his team no chance against the trident of Messi-Mbappe-Neymar. 

The supporters of Juventus have not been pleased with his pre-game interview - the onus lies on Christophe Galtier to parade his side to claim victory tomorrow from the old ladies. Messi can also close the goal gap on Ronaldo with Ronaldo not involved in the UEFA champions league this season. 

Real Madrid will start their title defence far away in Scotland when they lock horns with Celtic. Both teams have had perfect starts to the season. Undoubted, Real Madrid goes in as favourites but has always had slow starts to their UCL campaigns. They take on a Celtic side coming off a 4-0 win over arch-rivals Rangers last weekend. 

Kyogo Furuhashi has picked up an injury which is a worry for coach Ange Postecoglou. He will be looking to make it out of Group F - the club only managed to do that in 2012/13.

Tchouameni has settled in well after Casemiro's departure to Manchester United. He will start at the base of the midfield with veterans Kroos and Modric on either side of him. Benzema and Vinicius obviously will lead the attack. Jota and Giakoumakis must be at their best when they come up against Courtois. 

RB Salzburg will play hosts to Serie A champions AC Milan. Their derby victory will propel them to a good campaign after failing to make it out of the group stages last season. Benfica will welcome Israeli side Maccabi Haifa at the Estadio da Luz, and RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund will wait for the visits of Shakhtar Donetsk and Copenhagen respectively. 

With the night lights across Europe lit together with loud voices and cheers of fans. It says only one thing 'European football is back'. Let's enjoy it. 

Dinamo Zagreb vs Chelsea - 4:55 pm

Dortmund vs Copenhagen - 4:55 pm

The rest of the games kick off at 7:00 pm:

SL Benfica vs Maccabi Haifa

Sevilla vs Manchester City

RB Salzburg vs AC Milan

Celtic vs Real Madrid

RB Leipzig vs Shakhtar Donetsk

PSG vs Juventus