LONDON, Oct 22: Manchester City badly need to get their Champions League campaign off the ground against Ajax while holders Chelsea face Ukrainian opposition — in the form of Shakhtar Donetsk — for the first time as the third round of group matches gets underway on Tuesday.
Fresh off a first English league title in 44 years, City were supposed to make its presence felt among Europe’s elite this season with its expensively assembled squad.
A slip-up in the Champions League this week, however, will leave the English club facing the prospect of another campaign in the Europa League — or worse, dropping out of Europe altogether.
With just one point from two matches so far, failing to beat Ajax on Wednesday could leave City with too much to do to qualify from a tough Group ‘D’ that also contains Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
Real visit Dortmund, who have reversed last season’s pattern of struggling in Europe and doing well in the Bundesliga.
Dortmund will be looking to rebound from Saturday’s 2-1 derby loss to Schalke, which left them already 12 points behind Bayern Munich. Real, meanwhile, have been in fine form and scored seven goals already in the competition.
Chelsea, visit Ukrainian champions Shakhtar with both teams level at the top of Group ‘E’ on four points.
Chelsea maintained their impressive start to the English Premier League on Saturday after a 4-2 victory over Tottenham and face in-form opposition in Shakhtar who have won all 12league matches this campaign as well as earning a creditable point at group rivals Juventus three weeks ago.
Serie A champions Juventus, unbeaten in 10 matches in all competitions this season, have drawn their opening two games but should win Tuesday’s match away to Nordsjaelland.
There are no such concerns for Barcelona, Manchester United and Arsenal, who are all looking for their third straight group wins.
As are BATE Borisov, the Belarusian team who inflicted a shock 3-1 loss on last season’s runners-up Bayern Munich last time out and next host Valencia in Group ‘F’.
Fixtures (all times GMT, 1845 unless stated):
Playing on Tuesday:
Group ‘E’: Nordsjaelland v Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk v Chelsea.Group ‘F’: BATE Borisov v Valencia, Lille v Bayern Munich.Group ‘G’: Spartak Moscow v Benfica (1600), Barcelona v Celtic.Group ‘H’: Galatasaray v CFR Cluj, Manchester United v Braga.Playing on Wednesday:Group ‘A’: Porto v Dynamo Kiev, Dinamo Zagreb v Paris St Germain.Group ‘B’: Arsenal v Schalke 04, Montpellier HSC v Olympiakos Piraeus.Group ‘C’: Zenit St Petersburg v Anderlecht (1600), Malaga v AC Milan.Group ‘D’: Ajax Amsterdam v Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid.—Agencies