Players around Europe have just returned to their respective divisions but there’s little time to rest and recover with the Champions League returning to screens worldwide on Tuesday.
The standings look pretty strange in the newly reformatted competition, with continental giants like Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain all rotting away in mid-table obscurity.
However, the league phase is only a quarter complete and there’s still plenty of time for things to change, starting on Tuesday night when some of Europe’s heavy hitters are in action.
Here’s how 90min sees this first evening of Champions League action panning out this week.
In one of two early kick-offs, a turbulent Milan outfit will aim to get their first points in the Champions League this season when Club Brugge visit San Siro. Paulo Fonseca has struggled to get much consistency out of his new team but they did hold on for a victory over the weekend and may continue those winning ways on Tuesday.
Monaco have already upset Barcelona this season and have the chance to further cement their promising position with the visit of Red Star Belgrade. The Serbians have lost both games so far and might wilt in the face of the French side’s vibrant young attackers.
A first major setback of the season arrived on Saturday for Arsenal with defeat at Bournemouth, but Mikel Arteta will be plotting a return to form against Shakhtar Donetsk. The Gunners have four points from two matches and three more here would further their top-eight hopes approaching the midway point of the league phase.
Aston Villa got Villa Park bouncing by beating Bayern Munich last time out. More modest opposition in Bologna arrive in Birmingham on Tuesday evening and, while Unai Emery’s team should make it three wins from three games, it could be a relatively difficult night’s work.
Spanish side Girona have had last season’s momentum brought to a dead stop this term, sitting 12th in La Liga and 30th in the Champions League. Thankfully for them, upcoming opponents Slovan Bratislava are even lower down in 35th.
Juventus will want to record their third win in the league phase, having previously bested PSV Eindhoven and RB Leipzig, and may well do so against a Stuttgart outfit on a winless streak of five matches.
It’s been pretty much plain sailing for Paris Saint-Germain once again in Ligue 1 so far but things remain trickier in Europe, losing their most recent game 2-0 to Arsenal. They keep failing when the toughest tests arrive, but there should be enough quality to see off PSV Eindhoven, even if the Dutch giants have won all their Eredivisie fixtures so far this season.
Sturm Graz are one of eight teams to have lost both matches so far and their negative record may well continue with the visit of Sporting CP. Ruben Amorim’s troops are the top dogs in Portugal and have started well in Europe, beating Lille before drawing at PSV.
