Champions League returns with Liverpool-Real Madrid and Bayern-PSG rematches of recent finals
GENEVA (AP) — Real Madrid playing Liverpool in the Champions League has twice in recent years been a final between arguably the two best teams in the competition.
Their next meeting, however, finds two storied powers in starkly different positions at the midway point of the 36-team single league standings format. One is in first place and the other a lowly 18th.
It is not defending champion Madrid on top despite adding Kylian Mbappé to the roster that won a record-extending 15th European title in May.
Madrid has lost two of four games in the eight-round opening phase — and against teams that are far from challenging for domestic league titles: Lille and AC Milan.
Liverpool, which will host Wednesday's game, is eight points clear atop the Premier League under new coach Arne Slot and the only team to win all four Champions League games so far.
Still, the six-time European champion cannot completely forget losing the 2018 and 2022 finals when Madrid lifted its 13th and 14th titles. Madrid also won 5-2 at Anfield, despite trailing by two goals after 14 minutes, on its last visit to Anfield in February 2023.
The 2020 finalists also will be reunited this week, when Bayern Munich hosts Paris Saint-Germain in the stadium that will stage the next final on May 31.
Bayern’s home will rock to a 75,000-capacity crowd Tuesday, even though it is surprisingly a clash of 17th vs. 25th in the standings. Only the top 24 at the end of January advance to the knockout round.
No fans were allowed in the Lisbon stadium in August 2020 when Kingsley Coman scored against his former club PSG to settle the post-lockdown final in the COVID-19 pandemic season.
Man City in crisis
Manchester City at home to Feyenoord had looked like a routine win when fixtures were drawn in August, but it arrives with the 2023 champion on a stunning five-game losing run.
Such a streak was previously unthinkable for any team coached by Pep Guardiola, but it ensures extra attention Tuesday on Manchester.
City went unbeaten through its Champions League title season, and did not lose any of 10 games last season when it was dethroned by Real Madrid on a penalty shootout after two tied games in the quarterfinals.
City’s unbeaten run was stopped at 26 games three weeks ago in a 4-1 loss to Sporting Lisbon.
Sporting rebuilds
That rout was a farewell to Sporting in the Champions League for coach Rúben Amorim after he finalized his move to Manchester United.
Second to Liverpool in the Champions League standings, Sporting will be coached by João Pereira taking charge of just his second top-tier game when Arsenal visits on Tuesday.
Sporting still has European soccer’s hottest striker Viktor Gyökeres, who is being pursued by a slew of clubs reportedly including Arsenal. Gyökeres has four hat tricks this season for Sporting and Sweden including against Man City.
Tough tests for overachievers
Brest is in its first-ever UEFA competition and Aston Villa last played with the elite in the 1982-83 European Cup as the defending champion.
Remarkably, fourth-place Brest is two spots above Barcelona in the standings — having beaten opponents from Austria and the Czech Republic — before going to the five-time European champion on Tuesday. Villa in eighth place is looking down on Juventus in 11th.
Juventus plays at Villa Park on Wednesday for the first time since March 1983 when a team with the storied Platini-Boniek-Rossi attack eliminated the title holder in the quarterfinals. Villa has beaten Bayern and Bologna at home with shutout wins.
Zeroes to heroes?
Five teams are still on zero points and might need to go unbeaten to stay in the competition beyond January. Eight points is the projected tally to finish 24th.
They include Leipzig, whose tough fixture program continues with a trip to Inter Milan, the champion of Italy.
Inter and Atalanta are yet to concede a goal after four rounds, and Bologna is the only team yet to score.
Atalanta plays at Young Boys, one of the teams without a point, on Tuesday and Bologna hosts Lille on Wednesday.
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