All Eyes on Manchester City and PSG / Ready for the Champions League: This Week's Highly Anticipated Matches
This week's Champions League features several compelling matches, with the clash between Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain undoubtedly the highlight.
According to Sports 3, the big clubs of the old continent have reached the second round of the group stage of the European Champions League. Some like Barcelona and Bayern Munich are looking to consolidate their strong start and others are trying to regain their balance, like Inter.
Barcelona, Bayern and Paris Saint-Germain, the champions of the last two years, had a brilliant performance in the first round with decisive victories and, of course, against relatively weak opponents; Barcelona beat Feyenoord 5-1 in the Netherlands, Bayern beat Norway's Budo Glim 5-0, and Paris Saint-Germain beat Slovakia's Slovan Bratislava 6-1. In contrast, Real Madrid, the proudest team with 15 titles, narrowly beat Inter Milan 2-1, while Liverpool defeated Atletico Madrid by the same result.
Barcelona is facing Turkish Galatasaray, which has performed flawlessly in all competitions so far, and this wonderful start can be the best start in the history of major European clubs.
The Catalans have won their first nine games this season, the first time this has happened since 1935-36. Although Barcelona have failed to keep a clean sheet in the Champions League since the start of last season, it looks like they will be too much of a challenge for the Turkish side, as Galatasaray have won just once in their previous 10 meetings with Barcelona, back in 1994 and at home.
Bayern take on the Vikings in a relatively easy match, the Norwegian side's first home game of the competition.
The Vikings lost to Stuttgart 1-3 in the first round, in their first appearance in the tournament. Against Champions League newcomers Germany, the Norwegian side will be heavily reliant on their athleticism, which has seen them win their last 11 home matches.
Last August, Viking defeated Croatia's Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 in the same stadium and reached this stage. They have won all 10 of their matches in the Norwegian League this season.
Interestingly, Bayern became the first team to open the main stage of a European competition by facing two different Norwegian sides, beating Bodo Glim 5-0 last month.
Although Augsburg made things difficult for Bayern on Saturday when they came back to draw 2-2, the team remains unbeaten in all competitions this season (6 wins, 2 draws).
Last season's runners-up Arsenal will face Lille in the French League. New changes to international fixtures mean that a full month has passed since Arsenal's 1-0 win over Napoli in the first round.
Arsenal have a remarkable record at this stage and have lost only 2 times in their last 31 matches in the group stage. The positives don't end there for Spain coach Mikel Arteta's side, who have won 15 of their last 16 matches at this stage (one draw). The team also warmed up for the match with a 2-1 win over Leeds on Saturday, their seventh consecutive home win.
In contrast, Lille find themselves in a difficult position at home after losing 2-3 to Real Betis in the first round, but have responded well by winning two of their next three official matches.
Veteran striker Olivier Giroud returns to the Emirates Stadium and hopes to become only the third player in the history of the competition to score for and against Arsenal.
Inter will hope to make up for it quickly and avoid suffering a fourth consecutive defeat in this competition. They face Club Brugge of Belgium.
After losing to Real Madrid in the first round, the team went on an unbeaten run with 10 goals in 3 league matches (2 wins and a draw), the highlight of which was a 3-0 win over Parma last Saturday.
Napoli will hope to make up for their defeat against Arsenal. They face Villarreal, who themselves are not in good shape after losing 3-2 to Borussia Dortmund.
Manchester United are preparing for a tough trip to Spain to face Atletico Madrid.
Atletico won their fourth successive league victory with a 2-1 win at Alaves on Saturday, but are also keen to pick up their first European points, having lost 2-1 to Liverpool in their opening match.
In contrast, Michael Carrick is experiencing Manchester United's worst start to a league season in 40 years, adding to the pressure on the manager. The team's players could not hold on to their lead and eventually settled for a 1-1 draw against Tottenham, who finished the match with 10 men.
On Wednesday, attention will turn to the intriguing match between Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, while Real Madrid and Liverpool take on Roma and Las Vegas respectively.