United, Chelsea aim to stamp authority

Published October 18, 2017
SAINT GERMAIN-EN-LAYE: Paris St Germain players engaged in training on the eve of their UEFA Champions League group match against Anderlecht.—Reuters
SAINT GERMAIN-EN-LAYE: Paris St Germain players engaged in training on the eve of their UEFA Champions League group match against Anderlecht.—Reuters

PARIS: Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United will be looking to maintain their robust start to their Champions League campaign when they head to Benfica on Wednesday while Antonio Conte’s Chelsea entertain Roma.

Barcelona and Lionel Messi meanwhile play their first home match at the Camp Nou since the Catalonia independence referendum that plunged Spain into chaos, when Olympiakos visit.

United can take a giant stride towards a first appearance in the knockout stages since the 2013/14 season with a win at pointless Benfica — a repeat of the 1968 final.

United appear to be on the up under Mourinho, who cut his managerial teeth in an ill-fated three-month stint at Benfica in 2000.

Whereas United, last season’s Europa League winners, have comfortably won their opening games, Benfica have lost both of theirs and were condemned to a record 5-0 defeat by Basel on their last outing.

For Mourinho, however, they remain his team’s principal adversaries the group.

“The defeat suffered in Switzerland didn’t change my opinion that Benfica are our main opponent in the group stage,” he told Portuguese newspaper Record earlier this month.

CSKA Moscow host Swiss champions Basel with the chance to steal a march in the battle to stay within sight of the group’s pace-setters United.

Antonio Conte’s Chelsea can cement their status at the top of the Group ‘C’ with a third straight win, although Roma would replace the Blues at the summit if they can pull off an upset at Stamford Bridge.

The Italian will be without several key players for match which follows hot on the heels of Chelsea’s shock 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Striker Alvaro Morata missed the Palace defeat but is expected to face Roma, although N’Golo Kante and Victor Moses are both out with hamstring injuries that could sideline them for several weeks at a crucial stage of the season.

“When there are injuries of this type, it’s very difficult for us. This is the situation and we must overcome it and try to do our best,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.

Runners-up twice in the past four seasons, Atletico Madrid are looking to bounce back from a last-gasp defeat by Chelsea when they head to newcomers Qarabag.

Diego Simeone’s team have just a single point in Europe so far and will target the double-header with Qarabag as an opportunity to revive their campaign.

The Azerbaijani club lost 2-1 at home to Roma in their last game, a considerable improvement on a 6-0 drubbing by Chelsea on matchday one.

For the first time since playing to an empty stadium in protest at a violent crackdown of an independence referendum in Catalonia, Barcelona’s Camp Nou opens its doors when Olympiakos visit for their Group ‘D’ match.

Barca’s perfect start to the La Liga season was ended by Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Atletico, but the Catalan giants remain four points clear in Spain. They are also unbeaten in 22 home Champions League matches dating back to 2013, while Olympiakos have made a worryingly sluggish start in Greece on the back of a seventh championship in a row.

LONDON: David Luiz of Chelsea controls the ball at the club’s training ground on Tuesday.—AP
LONDON: David Luiz of Chelsea controls the ball at the club’s training ground on Tuesday.—AP

They were beaten by Sporting Lisbon and Juventus in their first two games.

The Italian champions suffered a first home defeat in over two years after going down 2-1 to Lazio at the weekend to fall five points behind Napoli in Serie A.

These two upcoming clashes will be key to both sides’ hopes of clinging onto Barcelona’s coat-tails, although Sporting have a dreadful record in Italy, drawing three and losing 10 of their 13 previous matches.

A narrow 1-0 loss to Barcelona before the international break is Sporting’s lone defeat in 14 outings this season.

Bayern Munich are looking to regroup in the Champions League at home to Celtic on as Jupp Heynckes coaches his first European game since winning the 2013 final.

The 72-year-old steered Bayern to the Champions League title four years ago by beating Borussia Dortmund at Wembley to complete the treble of European, Bundesliga and German Cup titles in the 2012/13 season.

However, after Carlo Ancelotti was sacked in the wake of Bayern’s 3-0 hammering at Paris St-Germain three weeks ago, Heynckes came out of retirement to return as head coach until the end of the season.

After four years away from football, Celtic’s visit to Allianz Arena for the Group ‘B’ match is Heynckes’ first real test as Bayern look to show a reaction from their thrashing in Paris.

“‘Reparation’ is a word often used when you have lost a game in the group phases,” said Heynckes when asked if Bayern want to atone for the loss.

“I think we simply must have the ambition to reach the next round.”

PSG, however, will look to solidify their spot at the top of the group against Anderlecht at Brussels with the electrifying strikeforce of Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe.

Cavani and Marco Verratti could return for Unai Emery’s team after missing the hard-fought 2-1 win at Dijon over the weekend.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2017

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