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Gameweek 3 of the UEFA Champions League promises to be filled with drama, action, and goals as the world’s most prestigious club competition; the UEFA Champions League enters Gameweek Three.
Goals, red cards, great saves and fantastic atmospheres are expected as crunch back-to-back games take place all over the groups with every team in the tournament still harbouring hopes of achieving certain objectives.
1.Real Madrid vs Tottenham Hotspur (Group H)
One of the more intriguing clashes in this latest instalment of this game week goes down at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu as twelve-time winners and defending champions Real Madrid CF host Tottenham Hotspurs.
Both teams have been having up-and-down games in their various domestic leagues but have been going great guns in the group stage so far with maximum points from group games against Borussia Dortmund & APOEL Nicosia.
Los Merengues will be buoyed by the return of players like Marcelo, Karim Benzema, Theo Hernandez but will be missing the likes of Gareth Bale and Dani Carvajal.
Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino has a full complement of players to work with except for Dele Alli who will be serving the last game of his suspension.
With Cristiano Ronaldo & Harry Kane expected to be leading the line, lots of goals are expected.
Real Madrid’s vastly more experienced players are expected to have a major say on the outcome of the match.
2. Manchester City VS SSC Napoli (Group F)
One for the footballing purists to salivate over, this Group F tie pits two of Europe’s most attacking teams and respective league leaders against each other.
Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City team have been blowing opponents away in the Premier League, scoring 29 goals and conceding just four (two have been deflections) in their first eight matches. The same pattern has been repeated in the UCL with two wins, 6 goals scored and none conceded in the first two games.
Facing The Citizens will be the other blue streak currently causing havoc in European football, Maurizio Sarri and his Napoli team. Gli Azzurri (The Light Blues) have been in irresistible form in Serie A topping the table with maximum points from their first eight games scoring 26 goals in the process and conceding just 5.
Whichever way you look at it, the clash of tactical wits between Pep Guardiola and Sarri promises to be a fascinating spectacle in itself with both sides expected to field a lightning-quick front three; Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling & Leroy Sane (Manchester City) & Jose Maria Callejon, Lorenzo Insigne & Dries Mertens (Napoli).
Kevin De Bruyne and Marek Hamsik are expected to pull the strings in midfield for both sides so expect goals; lots of it.
3. Chelsea FC VS AS Roma (Group C)
Another very intriguing Anglo-Italian clash goes down at Stamford Bridge as English champions and 2012 winners Chelsea face perennial underachievers AS Roma in a pivotal Group C tie.
The Blues have had a mixed start to the season winning their first two UCL games including a very tasty 2-1 defeat of Atletico Madrid in Spain.
The league form has been a different story with two straight losses in the last couple of weeks leaving Antonio Conte’s men lagging behind the early front-runners.
Opponents AS Roma have had a very curious start to the Serie A season, winning all five of their games against lower table opposition (including AC Milan) but losing two games at home to fellow title contenders: Internazionale and Napoli.
I Giallorossi (The Yellow and Reds) have gained four points from their two group games so far and will be confident of getting a good result against a Chelsea side that still looks some way off its imperious best.
Coach Conte will be hopeful that star striker Alvaro Morata recovers in time to play while first-name-on-the-team-sheet enforcer N’Golo Kante will miss out with a muscular injury.
Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco has more injury concerns as defence lynchpin Kostas Manolas, wingers Stephan El Shaarawy and Gregoire Defrel as well as perennial absentee midfielder Kevin Strootman will be out.
The game promises to be tactical with a draw serving neither team well as they will be well aware of Atletico Madrid’s doubleheader against Azerbaijani whipping boys Qarabag.
A fit-again Morata and Edin Dzeko for the Romans will fancy their chances on getting on the scoresheet while defensive discipline may determine which teams get a result.
4. RB Leipzig VS FC Porto (Group G)
When the draws were made, Group G was earmarked as the most interesting group to the relative equality of the four sides in the group. This has come to pass with the group’s games among the best matches that have been played in the competition so far.
RB Leipzig will go into Tuesday’s clash with 2008 winners FC Porto knowing that they are condemned to get a good result or risk being left out of the hunt for qualification to the second round.
The German upstarts have had a baptism of fire in their debut UEFA Champions League campaign, drawing their first ever UCL game at home to AS Monaco and being turned over easily by Turkish champions Besiktas in their second group game.
The team from the former East Germany have recovered from a poor start in the Bundesliga and were fantastic in beating leaders Borussia Dortmund at the dreaded Signal Iduna Park over the weekend.
Dragões or Dragons as the 27-time Primera Liga winners are known will be looking to build on their surprise 3-0 thrashing of AS Monaco at the latter’s home ground in Game Week 2.
Sérgio Conceição’s men will be looking to build upon an excellent domestic campaign that has the Blue & Whites in 1st place on the league log with 22 points from 8 games.
Given both teams' explosive style of play means that goals should be plentiful as both sides look to catch up on the group’s leader; Besiktas.
5. FC Bayern Munich vs Glasgow Celtic (Group C)
Putting the very recent past behind will be the driving force for Bayern Munich as the team will seek to recover lost face for the 3-0 humiliation at the hands of PSG in Game Week 2.
The 5-time UCL winners who had been wobbly all season even before that disastrous performance in Paris sacked coach Carlo Ancelotti in the aftermath of defeat and old warhorse and coach of the all-conquering treble-winning Bayern team of 2013; Jupp Heynckes has been brought back to steer this very storied club from the stormy waters it had found itself in.
Up against the German juggernaut will be Scottish champions Glasgow Celtic who will be confident of doing something at the Allianz Arena. The Scottish team was decimated by PSG in the first game of the group stage at Celtic Park but coach Brendan Rodgers led his team to record a resounding away win over the group’s errand boys; Anderlecht.
With the Parisiens almost guaranteed a place in the knockout stages, both matches between these two teams are must-win games as the loser can kiss their chance of qualification goodbye.
Following from the 5-0 thumping of relegation-threatened Freiburg in the Bundesliga, FC Hollywood as Bayern are called gave coach Heynckes the perfect welcome-back resent but should expect to face more durable opposition in the shape of the feisty Scots.
