Real Madrid's players celebrate their fourth goal during the Spanish
league football match between Levant and Real Madrid at the Ciutat de
Valencia stadium in Valencia on 2014. PHOTO | JOSE JORDAN |
AFP
PARIS
The meeting of Liverpool
and Real Madrid, who have 15 European Cups between them, is the pick of
the games on Wednesday in the Champions League. AFP Sports looks at all
the fixtures in Groups A, B, C and D:
Group A
ATLETICO MADRID V MALMO (9.45pm)
In
a finely-poised Group A, Spanish champions Atletico can ill afford a
slip-up against Malmo at the Vicente Calderon. "It is a very important
match to maintain a strong position in the group. Nothing else matters
to us just now," said Atletico midfielder Mario Suarez, who scored in
Sunday's 2-0 win against Espanyol in La Liga.
Diego
Simeone's side, runners-up last season, lost at Olympiakos in matchday
one but recovered to beat Juventus at home last time out. Midfielder
Tiago Mendes, who also scored against Espanyol, is a doubt for the visit
of Malmo, who are buoyant after securing a second straight Swedish
title earlier this month and boosted their prospects in the group by
beating Olympiakos 2-0 at home three weeks ago with a brace from former
Racing Santander striker Markus Rosenberg.
OLYMPIAKOS V JUVENTUS (9.45pm)
Juventus
have been plagued by an inability to transfer their superb domestic
form in recent times onto the European stage and a 1-0 defeat at
Atletico Madrid in their last outing means there is pressure on
Massimiliano Allegri's side before their trip to Greece. The Turin
giants remain top of Serie A despite being held to a 1-1 draw at
Sassuolo at the weekend and won 7-0 when they last met Olympiakos in the
group stage 10 years ago.
However, a trip to the
hostile surrounds of the Karaiskakis stadium promises to be just as
tough for Juve as it was for Atletico, who lost 3-2 to Olympiakos in
their opening game. That is despite the fact Michel's men are not
running as smoothly as they were last season - on Saturday they required
a last-minute Kostas Mitroglou goal to win 3-2 at struggling Ergotelis
in the Greek Super League.
Group B
LUDOGORETS RAZGRAD V BASEL (9.45pm)
A
rousing 1-0 win against Liverpool at the St Jakob-Park three weeks ago
boosted Basel's prospects of progressing to the last 16 from Group B
ahead of a double-header against Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad. The
Swiss champions, who will again be without suspended Chilean midfielder
Marcelo Diaz, head to Sofia fresh from winning 1-0 at Young Boys at the
weekend.
Ludogorets — forced to play 350 kilometres
from Razgrad at the national stadium because their own ground is not
deemed suitable — are still looking for a first point in their debut
group-stage campaign after running Liverpool and Real Madrid close. The
nature of their performances in those games will give them hope, though,
and they will be eager to exact revenge on Basel, who won 6-2 on
aggregate when the sides met in the play-offs last season.
LIVERPOOL V REAL MADRID (9.45pm)
Liverpool
and Real Madrid, who have won a remarkable 15 European Cups between
them, clash at Anfield with the Reds looking to maintain their perfect
record against the Spanish giants. Liverpool beat Madrid 1-0 in the 1981
final and then triumphed 5-0 on aggregate in the group stage in
2008-09.
However,
while Real are the reigning European champions, Liverpool are adapting
to the competition again after a five-year absence.
Real Madrid's Portuguese forward Cristiano
Ronaldo celebrates his goal during the Spanish league football match
between Levant and Real Madrid at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium in
Valencia on 2014. Real won 5-0. PHOTO | JOSE JORDAN | AFP
Brendan
Rodgers's side are under pressure to perform after a lame 1-0 defeat at
Basel last time out, but they will need to defend better than they did
in beating Queens Park Rangers 3-2 in the Premier League on Sunday.
Liverpool's Brazilian midfielder Philippe
Coutinho (right) celebrates scoring his goal with Liverpool's English
midfielder Steven Gerrard during the English Premier League football
match between Queens Park Rangers and Liverpool at Loftus Road in London
on October 19, 2014. PHOTO | ADRIAN DENNIS | AFP
Madrid
head to England on a run of seven consecutive wins, having scored 32
goals in that time. Nevertheless, Carlo Ancelotti's side will be without
the injured Gareth Bale and could be distracted by the impending
Clasico against Barcelona on Saturday.
Group C
BAYER LEVERKUSEN V ZENIT ST PETERSBURG (9.45pm)
Zenit
head to Germany to face Bayer Leverkusen in Group C looking to extend a
16-match unbeaten run in all competitions. However, the Russian Premier
League leaders have drawn their last three games, including a
frustrating goalless stalemate with Monaco three weeks ago and a 2-2
draw with Krasnodar at the weekend, when they came from 2-0 down with
Brazil forward Hulk netting his 50th goal for the club.
In
contrast, Leverkusen threw away a three-goal half-time lead to draw 3-3
at Stuttgart on Saturday, a result that left Roger Schmidt's men sixth
in the Bundesliga. The 2002 beaten finalists, who beat Benfica in their
last Group C outing, are without Gonzalo Castro, Sebastian Boenisch and
captain Simon Rolfes due to injury.
MONACO V BENFICA (9.45pm)
Monaco
meet Portuguese opposition for the first time since their 3-0 defeat to
Porto in the 2004 final when they host Benfica at the Stade Louis II.
The principality club are top of Group C, having beaten Leverkusen 1-0
at home before a creditable 0-0 draw at Zenit, while Benfica are yet to
register a point.
The game will carry added
significance for Monaco's Portuguese coach Leonardo Jardim, who coached
Sporting to second place in the Portuguese top flight last season behind
their great city rivals Benfica.
Monaco — whose squad
contains Portuguese internationals Ricardo Carvalho and Joao Moutinho
and Benfica loanee Bernardo Silva — have had a slow start to this season
but have lost only one of their last seven matches.
However,
striker Dimitar Berbatov has been on the sidelines of late. Benfica won
3-2 at Covilha in the Portuguese Cup at the weekend with Brazilian
former Valencia striker Jonas netting a hat-trick. The result maintained
their unbeaten start to the domestic season.
Group D
ANDERLECHT V ARSENAL (9.45pm)
Arsenal
make the short trip to Brussels to face Anderlecht bidding to record a
morale-boosting win after seeing their stuttering recent form continue
at the weekend. The Gunners required a last-minute Danny Welbeck
equaliser to draw 2-2 with Hull City on Saturday, a result that means
they have won just twice in nine games in all competitions.
However,
a double-header against the Belgian champions will give them a chance
to build on a convincing 4-1 win against Galatasaray in their last group
game.
Arsenal's Spanish defender Hector Bellerin
(right) vies with Hull City's Senegalese midfielder Mohamed Diame during
the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Hull City
at the Emirates Stadium in London on October 18, 2014. PHOTO | GLYN
KIRK |
AFP
Arsene Wenger will
be without suspended goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny after his sending-off
against the Turks, but the return to fitness of Theo Walcott and Aaron
Ramsey provides welcome good news. Besnik Hasi's home side are top of
their domestic league but a 3-0 home loss to Borussia Dortmund in their
last Group D outing was the latest example of their difficulties in
adapting to the higher demands of the Champions League — they have lost
their last five home games in the competition by an aggregate score of
17-3.
GALATASARAY V BORUSSIA DORTMUND (9.45pm)
Borussia
Dortmund have been outstanding in the Champions League in the last
couple of years and their coach Jurgen Klopp will be looking for a
rousing performance away to Galatasaray at a time when they are enduring
a miserable sequence of results in the Bundesliga.
A
2-1 loss at Cologne on Saturday was their third in a row domestically
and five games without a win have left them 14th in the table. However,
in Europe they have already beaten Arsenal (2-0) and Anderlecht (3-0)
and the return to fitness of Marco Reus, Ilkay Gundogan and Henrikh
Mkhitaryan means their injury worries are easing.
Galatasaray
are traditionally strong at home in Europe and are buoyant after
beating Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce 2-1 at the weekend thanks to two
Wesley Sneijder stunners but have just one point so far in Group D.
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