PARIS — We look ahead to Tuesday’s Champions League action as champion Real Madrid goes on the goal trail against minnow Legia Warsaw.
Group E
At Leverkusen, Bayer Leverkusen faces Tottenham. Tottenham’s surprise home defeat to Monaco on the opening day has put a spanner in the works in this group, putting both the English side and Leverkusen under pressure coming into their home-and-away series.
Spurs bounced back with a win in Moscow over CSKA and is the only remaining unbeaten side in the Premier League.
Leverkusen, on the other hand, has had a difficult start to the Bundesliga season and sits in the bottom half. They also drew their first two pool matches.
In Moscow, CSKA is up against Monaco. Monaco will seek to build on its opening 2-1 victory over Tottenham when it travels to Moscow to tackle CSKA, which sits third in the Russian Premier League after a 1-0 win over Ufa at the weekend.
Monaco dropped to third in Ligue 1, falling four points behind Nice after losing 3-1 at Toulouse Friday night, while the leader beat Lyon 2-0. CSKA is bottom of the group and needs a win.
Group F
At Madrid, Real Madrid plays Legia Warsaw. Given Legia, the first Polish qualifier to this stage in 20 years, has already conceded eight goals in its first two group games, anything other than a Real avalanche would be a surprise. Madrid warmed up for this match with a 6-1 thumping of Real Betis, which is probably a better side than Warsaw.
At Lisbon, Sporting encouters Borussia Dortmund.
Group G
In Belgium, Club Brugge is against Porto. Pointless and goalless Brugge hosts Porto with both sides targeting a first win to keep tabs on Group G’s pacesetters.
In England, Leicester plays Copenhagen. Leicester’s season is developing a Jekyll and Hyde quality to it — struggling to defend its shock Premier League crown but flying high in Europe. Claudio Ranieri’s men host Copenhagen top of the group with a perfect six points, a far cry from its domestic form, its four defeats already one more than it suffered over the whole of last season.
Group H
At Zagreb, Dinamo Zagreb faces Sevilla, the former took decisive action after 3-0 and 4-0 losses to Lyon and Juventus, with former Bulgaria coach Ivaylo Petev replacing Zlatko Kranjcar as manager. In three-time Europa Cup winner Sevilla it faces no easy task, the Spaniards having drawn 0-0 with Juventus and beaten Lyon 1-0 to sit level on points at the top of the table. Sevilla is also sitting pretty in La Liga.
In France, Lyon is up against Juventus, Juventus is setting the pace in the Serie A title race, its 2-1 win — Paulo Dybala scoring both goals — over Udinese Saturday placing it five points clear of Roma. — Agencies
