Champions League Matchday 2 Preview

By: Rob | September 29th, 2008

Back to Champions League duty for Europe’s elite this midweek, and a vital week for alot of the clubs involved. The great thing about the Champions League is that all the big clubs are involved, I can’t wait for a number of mouthwatering ties, which I’ll tell you all about, after the jump.

Tuesday:

Tuesday’s matches are Groups E-H this week, which means it all starts in Group E, where Manchester United play Aalborg, and Celtic take on Villarreal. I would expect United to pick up all three points in thier game, but the Celtic Villarreal game is more tricky. But considering Celtics poor away form, I predict the Spanish side to win.

Group F is the Group of Death, and presents us with the biggest game on Tuesday, as Lyon take on Bayern Munich. We’ve had a couple of weeks to put behind the controversy of Lyon’s last game. Bayern are looking very strong this season, but Lyon will be no pushover, assuming they don’t have a defensive nightmare like last time out. Fiorentina are playing Steaua and I think the Italians will take it at home.

Group G is an equally tricky group, 2006 finalists Arsenal play hosts to 2005 winners Porto. Both sides look pretty different from those glory days though, and I think Arsenal will win. Fener are the only side to have lost in this group so far, and will want to pick up maximum points at home to Kiev. I expect them to too.

Group H is still holding out on us – they know we’re all waiting for the Real/Juve game. This week Juve take on minnows BATE, in a game they will expect to win, while Real take on UEFA Cup holders Zenit St. Petersberg. That could be a close encounter, but I would imagine Real’s class will show through.

Wednesday:

Wednesday then is the other groups. Group A will see Roma visit Bordeaux, desperate to put that loss against Cluj behind them, while Chelsea are visting Cluj. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the latter match after Cluj beat Roma, but it would be some story to see them beat Chelsea. Stranger things have happened though.

Group B presents Inter – still reeling after being beaten by Milan on Sunday – taking on the toughest team in thier group, Werder Bremen. First real test for Jose Mourinho, can he get his side to bounce back and use that Milan defeat as a positive? I would expect so. But don’t expect Bremen to be pushovers. Anorthosis take on Panathinaikos in a Cyprus/Greek rivalry. It should make the “Battle of Britian” look tame really.

Group C sees Barcelona take on Shakhtar, the latter have the ability to cause an upset, especially at home, but i’ll be hoping for my fantasy football’s sake that Leo Messi gets on the scoresheet. Sporting play host to FC Basel in the other match in that group, where I forsee a high score draw.

Lastly then is Group D, Althletico Madrid are taking on Marseille, while Liverpool take on PSV. Both should be very good games, but I expect the two Spanish sides to come out on top.