Capitals, October 3, 2017 – England’s Manchester City are looking to take an important new step towards retaining their Champions League title when they visit Leipzig in Germany tomorrow (Wednesday). Competition.
Two Group Six matches (hard iron) take the spotlight again from other matches scheduled for tomorrow in this round, as French Paris Saint-Germain host English Newcastle and German Borussia Dortmund. Italy meets Milan.
Manchester City began their quest to retain their title after beating Serbian Red Star Belgrade 3-1 in the first round of Group G fixtures, but tomorrow’s game against Leipzig represents a strong test for the team. 2-2 with Bayern Munich earlier this month. A week in the German league and heading into tomorrow’s match with big ambitions.
“City” and Leipzig met in the round of 16 of the same competition last season, and they drew 1-1 in the first leg in Germany, and “City” won 7-0 in Manchester, which gave a strong boost. The team is on track to win the championship title for the first time.
Manchester City will be hoping for a similar renewed push during tomorrow’s match and will look to top the group they shared with Leipzig after beating Switzerland’s Young Boys 3-1 in the first round.
In the other fixture in the group, Red Star Belgrade face Young Boys in search of a first win in the group.
In Group Six, Borussia Dortmund will face a much tougher test in the second round as they host Milan, who have been in excellent form this season and are currently level with their neighbors Inter Milan at the top of the Italian league.
Both Dortmund and Milan are looking for their first wins in the group, with the former losing 0-2 to Saint-Germain and drawing 0-0 with Newcastle in the first round of group games.
Dortmund player Edin Tercic said: “Against St-Germain we need to play more bravely and attack more… We showed in the second half what we can offer if we move better and play with more confidence.”
The defeat against Saint-Germain in the first round is Dortmund’s only defeat, compared to 9 wins and 5 draws in the last 15 matches played by the team in the group stage of the Champions League.
In the second match of the group, Newcastle will meet Paris Saint-Germain amid different circumstances for both teams at local level, while Saint-Germain dropped another two points in defending the French league title with a goalless draw with Clermont Foot. Newcastle beat Burnley 2-0 in the English Premier League.
It was Newcastle’s third consecutive win in their domestic matches since their goalless draw with Milan in the first round of the Champions League. Newcastle will look to secure a win tomorrow and confirm their ability to balance performance at local and continental levels.
Portugal’s Porto, who beat Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 in the first round, will meet Spain’s Barcelona at the top of Group H tomorrow after beating Belgium’s Royal Antwerp 5-0.
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said: “All my players are enjoying the performance at the moment… We are performing in better conditions now than before, maybe the best since I took charge of the team.”
In tomorrow’s other group game, Antwerp meet Shakhtar Donetsk, both looking for their first win in the group.
In two other games tomorrow, Spain’s Atletico Madrid take on Dutch Feyenoord and Scottish Celtic take on Italy’s Lazio.