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The meeting of Napoli and Real Madrid is one that leaps immediately off the list of fixtures in the Champions League this week. For Carlo Ancelotti, this Group C contest spells a return to the club where he coached between May 2018 and December 2019 – and the formbook suggests Madrid will face a challenging night at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Napoli have won their last four Champions League group stage matches at home, scoring three goals or more each time. And with four goals from each of their last two Serie A outings, they are in fine scoring form right now.
For football history buffs, this is a tie with a connection of sorts to the origins of the Champions League. When these clubs met in the first round of the old European Cup in 1987, Silvio Berlusconi was then owner of AC Milan (where, for the record, Ancelotti had just arrived to reinforce the midfield) and building his television empire.
And so vexed was Berlusconi by the sight of Napoli, then champions of Italy, exiting the competition before the end of September that he enlisted an advertising agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, to look into the concept of a European Super League. As he told World Soccer magazine around that time: "We have to reach an audience beyond the stadium. That means television, the theatre of the global village." Five years later, the Champions League arrived.
While Toni Kroos is poised to make his 100th Champions League appearance for the Spanish Liga leaders in Naples, his former colleague Pepe looks set to miss out on Porto’s home contest with Barcelona owing to injury – a blow for his coach Sérgio Conceição, who is suffering a shortage of centre-halves (and for the player himself, who would doubtless have relished another meeting with Barça). If, by some miracle, Pepe does appear, he will hope for better fortune than Sergio Ramos, his ex-partner in the Madrid defence, endured against Barcelona on Friday night, when his late own goal inflicted a 1-0 defeat on his Sevilla side.
Next for Sevilla is Tuesday’s Group B trip to PSV Eindhoven – a return to the scene of their first UEFA Cup triumph back in 2006. Jesús Navas, a survivor of that final, is still going strong … but, worryingly for Sevillistas, so too is Luuk de Jong, one of the heroes of their 2020 Europa League success, who is thriving back in Eindhoven. De Jong scored against Sevilla in PSV’s Europa League knockout round play-off defeat in February and with 11 goals from 13 appearances this term, he offers a clear menace once more to his old team-mates.
If PSV are seeking revenge for that play-off loss to Sevilla seven months ago, another side with a score to settle from last season are Benfica who visit the Inter side that eliminated them at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League in April.
Back on the subject of old boys, Wilfried Zaha warmed up for his return to Manchester United with Galatasaray by scoring his first goal in Turkish football against Ankaragücü on Saturday.
If it is ten years now since Zaha arrived for an underwhelming stay at Old Trafford, for older Manchester United fans, Tuesday’s fixture will transport them further back – to October 1993 and a tie with the Istanbul giants which brought a sour end to their first venture in Europe’s elite club competition in 25 seasons.
Back in the autumn of 1993, United were still surfing a wave of excitement of their first league title since 1967 … but found Galatasaray barring their path to the group stage.
The first leg of the clubs’ second round tie took place at Old Trafford on 20 October and United flew out of the blocks, scoring twice inside 14 minutes through Bryan Robson and a Hakan Sükür own goal. Yet they then then lost their focus, paying the price for “self-indulgence” as Alex Ferguson put it, allowing the visitors to hit three goals through Arif Erdem and Kubilay Türkyilmaz (2). Though Eric Cantona equalised late on, the damage was done. In Istanbul, United faced what Ferguson described as the most hostile atmosphere he had known and a 0-0 draw meant they were eliminated on away goals.
Thirty years on, United can barely afford another slip-up after their 4-3 defeat by Bayern a fortnight ago though their home form hardly augurs well, given they have lost their last two home league matches … most recently on Saturday against Zaha’s old side Crystal Palace.
Leipzig are unbeaten since the opening day of the Bundesliga season and matched Bayern in a 2-2 draw on Saturday yet their supporters could still be forgiven for fearing the worst ahead of Manchester City’s visit on Wednesday. After all, when the clubs last met in March, City steamrollered the German side 7-0 in the second leg of their round of 16 tie. That was the night Erling Haaland scored five times to undo Leipzig’s good work in a 1-1 first-leg draw. When you add the fact Haaland also found the net six times in four matches against Leipzig in his days with Borussia Dortmund, you can understand the hosts’ trepidation.
For excitement and noise, there may be no better place on Matchday 2 than Newcastle United’s St. James’ Park as the Magpies play their first home fixture in the competition in 20 seasons against Paris Saint Germain. Newcastle should be brimming with belief after winning three in a row – without conceding – since their Matchday 1 draw at AC Milan, and something similar might be said of Lens who, since drawing at Sevilla, have shrugged off a poor domestic start by compiling successive Ligue 1 victories ahead of the Group B visit of Arsenal.
As with Newcastle, this is Lens’ first home fixture in the group stage since 2002/03 … and comes 25 years after they took four points off Arsenal on the only previous occasion these clubs met in this competition.
And what of Antwerp, playing their first home game in the competition since 1957 and a 2-1 reverse against Real Madrid? The Belgian title holders’ Champions League bow brought a 5-0 defeat at Barcelona, since when they’ve kept three consecutive clean sheets. Yet that trio of games all ended 0-0, so can Mark van Bommel’s side end their goal drought against Shakhtar?
Unlike the above trio, Celtic are Champions League regulars yet their recent struggles in the competition mean they have their own ‘wrong’ to right when they host Lazio – namely they are looking for a first home win in the group stage since October 2013 (2-1 v Ajax), fully a decade ago.
1-0: If any game looks set for a 1-0 on Matchday 2, it could be Tuesday’s Group C encounter between Union Berlin and Braga. These clubs traded 1-0 home victories in the 2022/23 Europa League group stage. And in the case of Union, 1-0 losers at Real Madrid a fortnight ago, each of their last seven UEFA club competition group stage matches have ended with just one goal being scored.
35: Bayern are on a record 35-game (W32 D3) unbeaten run in the Champions League group stage since a 3-0 loss against Paris Saint-Germain in September 2017. On top of that, the German champions have won each of their last 14 games in the group stage, also a record. Do Copenhagen, their Group A hosts on Tuesday, stand any chance? Well, they’ve drawn their last five home games in this competition…
The meeting of Napoli and Real Madrid is one that leaps immediately off the list of fixtures in the Champions League this week. For Carlo Ancelotti, this Group C contest spells a return to the club where he coached between May 2018 and December 2019 – and the formbook suggests Madrid will face a challenging night at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Napoli have won their last four Champions League group stage matches at home, scoring three goals or more each time. And with four goals from each of their last two Serie A outings, they are in fine scoring form right now.
For football history buffs, this is a tie with a connection of sorts to the origins of the Champions League. When these clubs met in the first round of the old European Cup in 1987, Silvio Berlusconi was then owner of AC Milan (where, for the record, Ancelotti had just arrived to reinforce the midfield) and building his television empire.
And so vexed was Berlusconi by the sight of Napoli, then champions of Italy, exiting the competition before the end of September that he enlisted an advertising agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, to look into the concept of a European Super League. As he told World Soccer magazine around that time: "We have to reach an audience beyond the stadium. That means television, the theatre of the global village." Five years later, the Champions League arrived.
While Toni Kroos is poised to make his 100th Champions League appearance for the Spanish Liga leaders in Naples, his former colleague Pepe looks set to miss out on Porto’s home contest with Barcelona owing to injury – a blow for his coach Sérgio Conceição, who is suffering a shortage of centre-halves (and for the player himself, who would doubtless have relished another meeting with Barça). If, by some miracle, Pepe does appear, he will hope for better fortune than Sergio Ramos, his ex-partner in the Madrid defence, endured against Barcelona on Friday night, when his late own goal inflicted a 1-0 defeat on his Sevilla side.
Next for Sevilla is Tuesday’s Group B trip to PSV Eindhoven – a return to the scene of their first UEFA Cup triumph back in 2006. Jesús Navas, a survivor of that final, is still going strong … but, worryingly for Sevillistas, so too is Luuk de Jong, one of the heroes of their 2020 Europa League success, who is thriving back in Eindhoven. De Jong scored against Sevilla in PSV’s Europa League knockout round play-off defeat in February and with 11 goals from 13 appearances this term, he offers a clear menace once more to his old team-mates.
If PSV are seeking revenge for that play-off loss to Sevilla seven months ago, another side with a score to settle from last season are Benfica who visit the Inter side that eliminated them at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League in April.
Back on the subject of old boys, Wilfried Zaha warmed up for his return to Manchester United with Galatasaray by scoring his first goal in Turkish football against Ankaragücü on Saturday.
If it is ten years now since Zaha arrived for an underwhelming stay at Old Trafford, for older Manchester United fans, Tuesday’s fixture will transport them further back – to October 1993 and a tie with the Istanbul giants which brought a sour end to their first venture in Europe’s elite club competition in 25 seasons.
Back in the autumn of 1993, United were still surfing a wave of excitement of their first league title since 1967 … but found Galatasaray barring their path to the group stage.
The first leg of the clubs’ second round tie took place at Old Trafford on 20 October and United flew out of the blocks, scoring twice inside 14 minutes through Bryan Robson and a Hakan Sükür own goal. Yet they then then lost their focus, paying the price for “self-indulgence” as Alex Ferguson put it, allowing the visitors to hit three goals through Arif Erdem and Kubilay Türkyilmaz (2). Though Eric Cantona equalised late on, the damage was done. In Istanbul, United faced what Ferguson described as the most hostile atmosphere he had known and a 0-0 draw meant they were eliminated on away goals.
Thirty years on, United can barely afford another slip-up after their 4-3 defeat by Bayern a fortnight ago though their home form hardly augurs well, given they have lost their last two home league matches … most recently on Saturday against Zaha’s old side Crystal Palace.
Leipzig are unbeaten since the opening day of the Bundesliga season and matched Bayern in a 2-2 draw on Saturday yet their supporters could still be forgiven for fearing the worst ahead of Manchester City’s visit on Wednesday. After all, when the clubs last met in March, City steamrollered the German side 7-0 in the second leg of their round of 16 tie. That was the night Erling Haaland scored five times to undo Leipzig’s good work in a 1-1 first-leg draw. When you add the fact Haaland also found the net six times in four matches against Leipzig in his days with Borussia Dortmund, you can understand the hosts’ trepidation.
For excitement and noise, there may be no better place on Matchday 2 than Newcastle United’s St. James’ Park as the Magpies play their first home fixture in the competition in 20 seasons against Paris Saint Germain. Newcastle should be brimming with belief after winning three in a row – without conceding – since their Matchday 1 draw at AC Milan, and something similar might be said of Lens who, since drawing at Sevilla, have shrugged off a poor domestic start by compiling successive Ligue 1 victories ahead of the Group B visit of Arsenal.
As with Newcastle, this is Lens’ first home fixture in the group stage since 2002/03 … and comes 25 years after they took four points off Arsenal on the only previous occasion these clubs met in this competition.
And what of Antwerp, playing their first home game in the competition since 1957 and a 2-1 reverse against Real Madrid? The Belgian title holders’ Champions League bow brought a 5-0 defeat at Barcelona, since when they’ve kept three consecutive clean sheets. Yet that trio of games all ended 0-0, so can Mark van Bommel’s side end their goal drought against Shakhtar?
Unlike the above trio, Celtic are Champions League regulars yet their recent struggles in the competition mean they have their own ‘wrong’ to right when they host Lazio – namely they are looking for a first home win in the group stage since October 2013 (2-1 v Ajax), fully a decade ago.
1-0: If any game looks set for a 1-0 on Matchday 2, it could be Tuesday’s Group C encounter between Union Berlin and Braga. These clubs traded 1-0 home victories in the 2022/23 Europa League group stage. And in the case of Union, 1-0 losers at Real Madrid a fortnight ago, each of their last seven UEFA club competition group stage matches have ended with just one goal being scored.
35: Bayern are on a record 35-game (W32 D3) unbeaten run in the Champions League group stage since a 3-0 loss against Paris Saint-Germain in September 2017. On top of that, the German champions have won each of their last 14 games in the group stage, also a record. Do Copenhagen, their Group A hosts on Tuesday, stand any chance? Well, they’ve drawn their last five home games in this competition…
The meeting of Napoli and Real Madrid is one that leaps immediately off the list of fixtures in the Champions League this week. For Carlo Ancelotti, this Group C contest spells a return to the club where he coached between May 2018 and December 2019 – and the formbook suggests Madrid will face a challenging night at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Napoli have won their last four Champions League group stage matches at home, scoring three goals or more each time. And with four goals from each of their last two Serie A outings, they are in fine scoring form right now.
For football history buffs, this is a tie with a connection of sorts to the origins of the Champions League. When these clubs met in the first round of the old European Cup in 1987, Silvio Berlusconi was then owner of AC Milan (where, for the record, Ancelotti had just arrived to reinforce the midfield) and building his television empire.
And so vexed was Berlusconi by the sight of Napoli, then champions of Italy, exiting the competition before the end of September that he enlisted an advertising agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, to look into the concept of a European Super League. As he told World Soccer magazine around that time: "We have to reach an audience beyond the stadium. That means television, the theatre of the global village." Five years later, the Champions League arrived.
While Toni Kroos is poised to make his 100th Champions League appearance for the Spanish Liga leaders in Naples, his former colleague Pepe looks set to miss out on Porto’s home contest with Barcelona owing to injury – a blow for his coach Sérgio Conceição, who is suffering a shortage of centre-halves (and for the player himself, who would doubtless have relished another meeting with Barça). If, by some miracle, Pepe does appear, he will hope for better fortune than Sergio Ramos, his ex-partner in the Madrid defence, endured against Barcelona on Friday night, when his late own goal inflicted a 1-0 defeat on his Sevilla side.
Next for Sevilla is Tuesday’s Group B trip to PSV Eindhoven – a return to the scene of their first UEFA Cup triumph back in 2006. Jesús Navas, a survivor of that final, is still going strong … but, worryingly for Sevillistas, so too is Luuk de Jong, one of the heroes of their 2020 Europa League success, who is thriving back in Eindhoven. De Jong scored against Sevilla in PSV’s Europa League knockout round play-off defeat in February and with 11 goals from 13 appearances this term, he offers a clear menace once more to his old team-mates.
If PSV are seeking revenge for that play-off loss to Sevilla seven months ago, another side with a score to settle from last season are Benfica who visit the Inter side that eliminated them at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League in April.
Back on the subject of old boys, Wilfried Zaha warmed up for his return to Manchester United with Galatasaray by scoring his first goal in Turkish football against Ankaragücü on Saturday.
If it is ten years now since Zaha arrived for an underwhelming stay at Old Trafford, for older Manchester United fans, Tuesday’s fixture will transport them further back – to October 1993 and a tie with the Istanbul giants which brought a sour end to their first venture in Europe’s elite club competition in 25 seasons.
Back in the autumn of 1993, United were still surfing a wave of excitement of their first league title since 1967 … but found Galatasaray barring their path to the group stage.
The first leg of the clubs’ second round tie took place at Old Trafford on 20 October and United flew out of the blocks, scoring twice inside 14 minutes through Bryan Robson and a Hakan Sükür own goal. Yet they then then lost their focus, paying the price for “self-indulgence” as Alex Ferguson put it, allowing the visitors to hit three goals through Arif Erdem and Kubilay Türkyilmaz (2). Though Eric Cantona equalised late on, the damage was done. In Istanbul, United faced what Ferguson described as the most hostile atmosphere he had known and a 0-0 draw meant they were eliminated on away goals.
Thirty years on, United can barely afford another slip-up after their 4-3 defeat by Bayern a fortnight ago though their home form hardly augurs well, given they have lost their last two home league matches … most recently on Saturday against Zaha’s old side Crystal Palace.
Leipzig are unbeaten since the opening day of the Bundesliga season and matched Bayern in a 2-2 draw on Saturday yet their supporters could still be forgiven for fearing the worst ahead of Manchester City’s visit on Wednesday. After all, when the clubs last met in March, City steamrollered the German side 7-0 in the second leg of their round of 16 tie. That was the night Erling Haaland scored five times to undo Leipzig’s good work in a 1-1 first-leg draw. When you add the fact Haaland also found the net six times in four matches against Leipzig in his days with Borussia Dortmund, you can understand the hosts’ trepidation.
For excitement and noise, there may be no better place on Matchday 2 than Newcastle United’s St. James’ Park as the Magpies play their first home fixture in the competition in 20 seasons against Paris Saint Germain. Newcastle should be brimming with belief after winning three in a row – without conceding – since their Matchday 1 draw at AC Milan, and something similar might be said of Lens who, since drawing at Sevilla, have shrugged off a poor domestic start by compiling successive Ligue 1 victories ahead of the Group B visit of Arsenal.
As with Newcastle, this is Lens’ first home fixture in the group stage since 2002/03 … and comes 25 years after they took four points off Arsenal on the only previous occasion these clubs met in this competition.
And what of Antwerp, playing their first home game in the competition since 1957 and a 2-1 reverse against Real Madrid? The Belgian title holders’ Champions League bow brought a 5-0 defeat at Barcelona, since when they’ve kept three consecutive clean sheets. Yet that trio of games all ended 0-0, so can Mark van Bommel’s side end their goal drought against Shakhtar?
Unlike the above trio, Celtic are Champions League regulars yet their recent struggles in the competition mean they have their own ‘wrong’ to right when they host Lazio – namely they are looking for a first home win in the group stage since October 2013 (2-1 v Ajax), fully a decade ago.
1-0: If any game looks set for a 1-0 on Matchday 2, it could be Tuesday’s Group C encounter between Union Berlin and Braga. These clubs traded 1-0 home victories in the 2022/23 Europa League group stage. And in the case of Union, 1-0 losers at Real Madrid a fortnight ago, each of their last seven UEFA club competition group stage matches have ended with just one goal being scored.
35: Bayern are on a record 35-game (W32 D3) unbeaten run in the Champions League group stage since a 3-0 loss against Paris Saint-Germain in September 2017. On top of that, the German champions have won each of their last 14 games in the group stage, also a record. Do Copenhagen, their Group A hosts on Tuesday, stand any chance? Well, they’ve drawn their last five home games in this competition…
The meeting of Napoli and Real Madrid is one that leaps immediately off the list of fixtures in the Champions League this week. For Carlo Ancelotti, this Group C contest spells a return to the club where he coached between May 2018 and December 2019 – and the formbook suggests Madrid will face a challenging night at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Napoli have won their last four Champions League group stage matches at home, scoring three goals or more each time. And with four goals from each of their last two Serie A outings, they are in fine scoring form right now.
For football history buffs, this is a tie with a connection of sorts to the origins of the Champions League. When these clubs met in the first round of the old European Cup in 1987, Silvio Berlusconi was then owner of AC Milan (where, for the record, Ancelotti had just arrived to reinforce the midfield) and building his television empire.
And so vexed was Berlusconi by the sight of Napoli, then champions of Italy, exiting the competition before the end of September that he enlisted an advertising agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, to look into the concept of a European Super League. As he told World Soccer magazine around that time: "We have to reach an audience beyond the stadium. That means television, the theatre of the global village." Five years later, the Champions League arrived.
While Toni Kroos is poised to make his 100th Champions League appearance for the Spanish Liga leaders in Naples, his former colleague Pepe looks set to miss out on Porto’s home contest with Barcelona owing to injury – a blow for his coach Sérgio Conceição, who is suffering a shortage of centre-halves (and for the player himself, who would doubtless have relished another meeting with Barça). If, by some miracle, Pepe does appear, he will hope for better fortune than Sergio Ramos, his ex-partner in the Madrid defence, endured against Barcelona on Friday night, when his late own goal inflicted a 1-0 defeat on his Sevilla side.
Next for Sevilla is Tuesday’s Group B trip to PSV Eindhoven – a return to the scene of their first UEFA Cup triumph back in 2006. Jesús Navas, a survivor of that final, is still going strong … but, worryingly for Sevillistas, so too is Luuk de Jong, one of the heroes of their 2020 Europa League success, who is thriving back in Eindhoven. De Jong scored against Sevilla in PSV’s Europa League knockout round play-off defeat in February and with 11 goals from 13 appearances this term, he offers a clear menace once more to his old team-mates.
If PSV are seeking revenge for that play-off loss to Sevilla seven months ago, another side with a score to settle from last season are Benfica who visit the Inter side that eliminated them at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League in April.
Back on the subject of old boys, Wilfried Zaha warmed up for his return to Manchester United with Galatasaray by scoring his first goal in Turkish football against Ankaragücü on Saturday.
If it is ten years now since Zaha arrived for an underwhelming stay at Old Trafford, for older Manchester United fans, Tuesday’s fixture will transport them further back – to October 1993 and a tie with the Istanbul giants which brought a sour end to their first venture in Europe’s elite club competition in 25 seasons.
Back in the autumn of 1993, United were still surfing a wave of excitement of their first league title since 1967 … but found Galatasaray barring their path to the group stage.
The first leg of the clubs’ second round tie took place at Old Trafford on 20 October and United flew out of the blocks, scoring twice inside 14 minutes through Bryan Robson and a Hakan Sükür own goal. Yet they then then lost their focus, paying the price for “self-indulgence” as Alex Ferguson put it, allowing the visitors to hit three goals through Arif Erdem and Kubilay Türkyilmaz (2). Though Eric Cantona equalised late on, the damage was done. In Istanbul, United faced what Ferguson described as the most hostile atmosphere he had known and a 0-0 draw meant they were eliminated on away goals.
Thirty years on, United can barely afford another slip-up after their 4-3 defeat by Bayern a fortnight ago though their home form hardly augurs well, given they have lost their last two home league matches … most recently on Saturday against Zaha’s old side Crystal Palace.
Leipzig are unbeaten since the opening day of the Bundesliga season and matched Bayern in a 2-2 draw on Saturday yet their supporters could still be forgiven for fearing the worst ahead of Manchester City’s visit on Wednesday. After all, when the clubs last met in March, City steamrollered the German side 7-0 in the second leg of their round of 16 tie. That was the night Erling Haaland scored five times to undo Leipzig’s good work in a 1-1 first-leg draw. When you add the fact Haaland also found the net six times in four matches against Leipzig in his days with Borussia Dortmund, you can understand the hosts’ trepidation.
For excitement and noise, there may be no better place on Matchday 2 than Newcastle United’s St. James’ Park as the Magpies play their first home fixture in the competition in 20 seasons against Paris Saint Germain. Newcastle should be brimming with belief after winning three in a row – without conceding – since their Matchday 1 draw at AC Milan, and something similar might be said of Lens who, since drawing at Sevilla, have shrugged off a poor domestic start by compiling successive Ligue 1 victories ahead of the Group B visit of Arsenal.
As with Newcastle, this is Lens’ first home fixture in the group stage since 2002/03 … and comes 25 years after they took four points off Arsenal on the only previous occasion these clubs met in this competition.
And what of Antwerp, playing their first home game in the competition since 1957 and a 2-1 reverse against Real Madrid? The Belgian title holders’ Champions League bow brought a 5-0 defeat at Barcelona, since when they’ve kept three consecutive clean sheets. Yet that trio of games all ended 0-0, so can Mark van Bommel’s side end their goal drought against Shakhtar?
Unlike the above trio, Celtic are Champions League regulars yet their recent struggles in the competition mean they have their own ‘wrong’ to right when they host Lazio – namely they are looking for a first home win in the group stage since October 2013 (2-1 v Ajax), fully a decade ago.
1-0: If any game looks set for a 1-0 on Matchday 2, it could be Tuesday’s Group C encounter between Union Berlin and Braga. These clubs traded 1-0 home victories in the 2022/23 Europa League group stage. And in the case of Union, 1-0 losers at Real Madrid a fortnight ago, each of their last seven UEFA club competition group stage matches have ended with just one goal being scored.
35: Bayern are on a record 35-game (W32 D3) unbeaten run in the Champions League group stage since a 3-0 loss against Paris Saint-Germain in September 2017. On top of that, the German champions have won each of their last 14 games in the group stage, also a record. Do Copenhagen, their Group A hosts on Tuesday, stand any chance? Well, they’ve drawn their last five home games in this competition…
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The meeting of Napoli and Real Madrid is one that leaps immediately off the list of fixtures in the Champions League this week. For Carlo Ancelotti, this Group C contest spells a return to the club where he coached between May 2018 and December 2019 – and the formbook suggests Madrid will face a challenging night at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Napoli have won their last four Champions League group stage matches at home, scoring three goals or more each time. And with four goals from each of their last two Serie A outings, they are in fine scoring form right now.
For football history buffs, this is a tie with a connection of sorts to the origins of the Champions League. When these clubs met in the first round of the old European Cup in 1987, Silvio Berlusconi was then owner of AC Milan (where, for the record, Ancelotti had just arrived to reinforce the midfield) and building his television empire.
And so vexed was Berlusconi by the sight of Napoli, then champions of Italy, exiting the competition before the end of September that he enlisted an advertising agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, to look into the concept of a European Super League. As he told World Soccer magazine around that time: "We have to reach an audience beyond the stadium. That means television, the theatre of the global village." Five years later, the Champions League arrived.
While Toni Kroos is poised to make his 100th Champions League appearance for the Spanish Liga leaders in Naples, his former colleague Pepe looks set to miss out on Porto’s home contest with Barcelona owing to injury – a blow for his coach Sérgio Conceição, who is suffering a shortage of centre-halves (and for the player himself, who would doubtless have relished another meeting with Barça). If, by some miracle, Pepe does appear, he will hope for better fortune than Sergio Ramos, his ex-partner in the Madrid defence, endured against Barcelona on Friday night, when his late own goal inflicted a 1-0 defeat on his Sevilla side.
Next for Sevilla is Tuesday’s Group B trip to PSV Eindhoven – a return to the scene of their first UEFA Cup triumph back in 2006. Jesús Navas, a survivor of that final, is still going strong … but, worryingly for Sevillistas, so too is Luuk de Jong, one of the heroes of their 2020 Europa League success, who is thriving back in Eindhoven. De Jong scored against Sevilla in PSV’s Europa League knockout round play-off defeat in February and with 11 goals from 13 appearances this term, he offers a clear menace once more to his old team-mates.
If PSV are seeking revenge for that play-off loss to Sevilla seven months ago, another side with a score to settle from last season are Benfica who visit the Inter side that eliminated them at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League in April.
Back on the subject of old boys, Wilfried Zaha warmed up for his return to Manchester United with Galatasaray by scoring his first goal in Turkish football against Ankaragücü on Saturday.
If it is ten years now since Zaha arrived for an underwhelming stay at Old Trafford, for older Manchester United fans, Tuesday’s fixture will transport them further back – to October 1993 and a tie with the Istanbul giants which brought a sour end to their first venture in Europe’s elite club competition in 25 seasons.
Back in the autumn of 1993, United were still surfing a wave of excitement of their first league title since 1967 … but found Galatasaray barring their path to the group stage.
The first leg of the clubs’ second round tie took place at Old Trafford on 20 October and United flew out of the blocks, scoring twice inside 14 minutes through Bryan Robson and a Hakan Sükür own goal. Yet they then then lost their focus, paying the price for “self-indulgence” as Alex Ferguson put it, allowing the visitors to hit three goals through Arif Erdem and Kubilay Türkyilmaz (2). Though Eric Cantona equalised late on, the damage was done. In Istanbul, United faced what Ferguson described as the most hostile atmosphere he had known and a 0-0 draw meant they were eliminated on away goals.
Thirty years on, United can barely afford another slip-up after their 4-3 defeat by Bayern a fortnight ago though their home form hardly augurs well, given they have lost their last two home league matches … most recently on Saturday against Zaha’s old side Crystal Palace.
Leipzig are unbeaten since the opening day of the Bundesliga season and matched Bayern in a 2-2 draw on Saturday yet their supporters could still be forgiven for fearing the worst ahead of Manchester City’s visit on Wednesday. After all, when the clubs last met in March, City steamrollered the German side 7-0 in the second leg of their round of 16 tie. That was the night Erling Haaland scored five times to undo Leipzig’s good work in a 1-1 first-leg draw. When you add the fact Haaland also found the net six times in four matches against Leipzig in his days with Borussia Dortmund, you can understand the hosts’ trepidation.
For excitement and noise, there may be no better place on Matchday 2 than Newcastle United’s St. James’ Park as the Magpies play their first home fixture in the competition in 20 seasons against Paris Saint Germain. Newcastle should be brimming with belief after winning three in a row – without conceding – since their Matchday 1 draw at AC Milan, and something similar might be said of Lens who, since drawing at Sevilla, have shrugged off a poor domestic start by compiling successive Ligue 1 victories ahead of the Group B visit of Arsenal.
As with Newcastle, this is Lens’ first home fixture in the group stage since 2002/03 … and comes 25 years after they took four points off Arsenal on the only previous occasion these clubs met in this competition.
And what of Antwerp, playing their first home game in the competition since 1957 and a 2-1 reverse against Real Madrid? The Belgian title holders’ Champions League bow brought a 5-0 defeat at Barcelona, since when they’ve kept three consecutive clean sheets. Yet that trio of games all ended 0-0, so can Mark van Bommel’s side end their goal drought against Shakhtar?
Unlike the above trio, Celtic are Champions League regulars yet their recent struggles in the competition mean they have their own ‘wrong’ to right when they host Lazio – namely they are looking for a first home win in the group stage since October 2013 (2-1 v Ajax), fully a decade ago.
1-0: If any game looks set for a 1-0 on Matchday 2, it could be Tuesday’s Group C encounter between Union Berlin and Braga. These clubs traded 1-0 home victories in the 2022/23 Europa League group stage. And in the case of Union, 1-0 losers at Real Madrid a fortnight ago, each of their last seven UEFA club competition group stage matches have ended with just one goal being scored.
35: Bayern are on a record 35-game (W32 D3) unbeaten run in the Champions League group stage since a 3-0 loss against Paris Saint-Germain in September 2017. On top of that, the German champions have won each of their last 14 games in the group stage, also a record. Do Copenhagen, their Group A hosts on Tuesday, stand any chance? Well, they’ve drawn their last five home games in this competition…
The meeting of Napoli and Real Madrid is one that leaps immediately off the list of fixtures in the Champions League this week. For Carlo Ancelotti, this Group C contest spells a return to the club where he coached between May 2018 and December 2019 – and the formbook suggests Madrid will face a challenging night at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Napoli have won their last four Champions League group stage matches at home, scoring three goals or more each time. And with four goals from each of their last two Serie A outings, they are in fine scoring form right now.
For football history buffs, this is a tie with a connection of sorts to the origins of the Champions League. When these clubs met in the first round of the old European Cup in 1987, Silvio Berlusconi was then owner of AC Milan (where, for the record, Ancelotti had just arrived to reinforce the midfield) and building his television empire.
And so vexed was Berlusconi by the sight of Napoli, then champions of Italy, exiting the competition before the end of September that he enlisted an advertising agency, Saatchi and Saatchi, to look into the concept of a European Super League. As he told World Soccer magazine around that time: "We have to reach an audience beyond the stadium. That means television, the theatre of the global village." Five years later, the Champions League arrived.
While Toni Kroos is poised to make his 100th Champions League appearance for the Spanish Liga leaders in Naples, his former colleague Pepe looks set to miss out on Porto’s home contest with Barcelona owing to injury – a blow for his coach Sérgio Conceição, who is suffering a shortage of centre-halves (and for the player himself, who would doubtless have relished another meeting with Barça). If, by some miracle, Pepe does appear, he will hope for better fortune than Sergio Ramos, his ex-partner in the Madrid defence, endured against Barcelona on Friday night, when his late own goal inflicted a 1-0 defeat on his Sevilla side.
Next for Sevilla is Tuesday’s Group B trip to PSV Eindhoven – a return to the scene of their first UEFA Cup triumph back in 2006. Jesús Navas, a survivor of that final, is still going strong … but, worryingly for Sevillistas, so too is Luuk de Jong, one of the heroes of their 2020 Europa League success, who is thriving back in Eindhoven. De Jong scored against Sevilla in PSV’s Europa League knockout round play-off defeat in February and with 11 goals from 13 appearances this term, he offers a clear menace once more to his old team-mates.
If PSV are seeking revenge for that play-off loss to Sevilla seven months ago, another side with a score to settle from last season are Benfica who visit the Inter side that eliminated them at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League in April.
Back on the subject of old boys, Wilfried Zaha warmed up for his return to Manchester United with Galatasaray by scoring his first goal in Turkish football against Ankaragücü on Saturday.
If it is ten years now since Zaha arrived for an underwhelming stay at Old Trafford, for older Manchester United fans, Tuesday’s fixture will transport them further back – to October 1993 and a tie with the Istanbul giants which brought a sour end to their first venture in Europe’s elite club competition in 25 seasons.
Back in the autumn of 1993, United were still surfing a wave of excitement of their first league title since 1967 … but found Galatasaray barring their path to the group stage.
The first leg of the clubs’ second round tie took place at Old Trafford on 20 October and United flew out of the blocks, scoring twice inside 14 minutes through Bryan Robson and a Hakan Sükür own goal. Yet they then then lost their focus, paying the price for “self-indulgence” as Alex Ferguson put it, allowing the visitors to hit three goals through Arif Erdem and Kubilay Türkyilmaz (2). Though Eric Cantona equalised late on, the damage was done. In Istanbul, United faced what Ferguson described as the most hostile atmosphere he had known and a 0-0 draw meant they were eliminated on away goals.
Thirty years on, United can barely afford another slip-up after their 4-3 defeat by Bayern a fortnight ago though their home form hardly augurs well, given they have lost their last two home league matches … most recently on Saturday against Zaha’s old side Crystal Palace.
Leipzig are unbeaten since the opening day of the Bundesliga season and matched Bayern in a 2-2 draw on Saturday yet their supporters could still be forgiven for fearing the worst ahead of Manchester City’s visit on Wednesday. After all, when the clubs last met in March, City steamrollered the German side 7-0 in the second leg of their round of 16 tie. That was the night Erling Haaland scored five times to undo Leipzig’s good work in a 1-1 first-leg draw. When you add the fact Haaland also found the net six times in four matches against Leipzig in his days with Borussia Dortmund, you can understand the hosts’ trepidation.
For excitement and noise, there may be no better place on Matchday 2 than Newcastle United’s St. James’ Park as the Magpies play their first home fixture in the competition in 20 seasons against Paris Saint Germain. Newcastle should be brimming with belief after winning three in a row – without conceding – since their Matchday 1 draw at AC Milan, and something similar might be said of Lens who, since drawing at Sevilla, have shrugged off a poor domestic start by compiling successive Ligue 1 victories ahead of the Group B visit of Arsenal.
As with Newcastle, this is Lens’ first home fixture in the group stage since 2002/03 … and comes 25 years after they took four points off Arsenal on the only previous occasion these clubs met in this competition.
And what of Antwerp, playing their first home game in the competition since 1957 and a 2-1 reverse against Real Madrid? The Belgian title holders’ Champions League bow brought a 5-0 defeat at Barcelona, since when they’ve kept three consecutive clean sheets. Yet that trio of games all ended 0-0, so can Mark van Bommel’s side end their goal drought against Shakhtar?
Unlike the above trio, Celtic are Champions League regulars yet their recent struggles in the competition mean they have their own ‘wrong’ to right when they host Lazio – namely they are looking for a first home win in the group stage since October 2013 (2-1 v Ajax), fully a decade ago.
1-0: If any game looks set for a 1-0 on Matchday 2, it could be Tuesday’s Group C encounter between Union Berlin and Braga. These clubs traded 1-0 home victories in the 2022/23 Europa League group stage. And in the case of Union, 1-0 losers at Real Madrid a fortnight ago, each of their last seven UEFA club competition group stage matches have ended with just one goal being scored.
35: Bayern are on a record 35-game (W32 D3) unbeaten run in the Champions League group stage since a 3-0 loss against Paris Saint-Germain in September 2017. On top of that, the German champions have won each of their last 14 games in the group stage, also a record. Do Copenhagen, their Group A hosts on Tuesday, stand any chance? Well, they’ve drawn their last five home games in this competition…
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