Champions League predictions: Matchday 3 matches on Tuesday
Players across Europe have just returned to their respective divisions, but with the Champions League being shown around the world on Tuesday, there will be little time to rest and recuperate.
Continental giants such as Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain all languish in obscurity in the middle of the table, making their position in the newly formatted competition quite strange. It looks like.
But there’s still plenty of time to make a difference, with just one quarter of league play and Europe’s heavy hitters starting action on Tuesday night.
90min takes you through the first night of this week’s Champions League matches.
One of the two early kick-offs will see Club Brugge visit the San Siro, with a turbulent Milan side looking to pick up their first points in this season’s Champions League. Paulo Fonseca has struggled to extract consistency from his new team, but he picked up wins at the weekend and could continue his winning ways on Tuesday.
Monaco have already upset Barcelona this season and have a chance to further cement their promising status with the visit of Red Star Belgrade. The Serbs have lost both games so far and may wilt in front of the French side’s vibrant young attackers.
Arsenal suffered their first major setback of the season when they lost to Bournemouth on Saturday, but Mikel Arteta plans to bounce back against Shakhtar Donetsk. The Gunners have four points from two games and three more points would boost their hopes of making it into the top eight as they approach the halfway point of the league campaign.
Aston Villa defeated Bayern Munich in their last match, bringing Villa Park to life. Bologna’s more moderate opponents arrive in Birmingham on Tuesday night and Unai Emery’s side should take it to three wins from three, but it could be a relatively difficult night’s work.
Girona, a Spanish team, has lost its momentum from last season, falling to 12th place in La Liga and 30th place in the Champions League. Thankfully, their next opponents, Slovan Bratislava, are even lower, in 35th place.
Juventus have defeated PSV Eindhoven and RB Leipzig so far and will be hoping to record their third win in the league, but there is a good chance they will do so against Stuttgart, who have not won in five games.
Paris Saint-Germain have once again been largely smooth sailing in Ligue 1 so far, but things remain complicated in Europe, with their most recent match losing 2-0 to Arsenal. They continue to fail when the toughest test arrives, but there should be enough quality to see off PSV Eindhoven, even if the Dutch giants have won every Eredivisie game so far this season.
Sturm Graz are one of eight teams to have lost both games so far, and their negative record could continue with the visit of Sporting CP. Ruben Amorim’s side are Portugal’s top team and had a strong start in Europe, defeating Lille before drawing with PSV.
