Barca, City ready for big week
Paris, Oct. 20: Man- chester City continue their search for a first Champions League win this season when they face CSKA Moscow on Tuesday, while Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Paris Saint- Germain are among the sides in action elsewhere.
After taking just one point from their opening two matches, Premier League champions City go to Russia to face CSKA still looking for their first win. Manuel Pellegrini’s men are fresh from a 4- 1 win against Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend thanks to four Sergio Aguero goals, although a thigh injury suffered by Frank Lampard in that game means he is set to miss the trip.
The in- form Aguero also scored twice when City won 2- 1 against the same opponents in last season’s competition, although that match was overshadowed by racist taunts from home supporters aimed at City’s Yaya Toure. More misbehaviour from CSKA fans in their defeat at Roma last month saw them punished by Uefa and this game will be played behind closed doors as a result, something that is likely to work against the home side, who beat Kuban Krasnodar 6- 0 in the Russian Premier League on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Pep Guardiola takes his Bayern side to the stadium where he led Barcelona to victory in the
For me Messi is the best player in the world and I am happy to be able to play alongside him. But Luis Suarez is among the best too and I am sure he will bring many good things to our team. NEYMAR
— Barcelona forward
Champions League final in 2009, and the German champions will be looking to extend their unbeaten start to the season. Bayern defender Mehdi Benatia could come up against the club he left in the summer, and Roma have enjoyed a superb start to the campaign since selling the Moroccan. The Giallorossi have taken four points from a possible six so far.
Barcelona and Ajax are meeting for the second consecutive season in the Champions League, with the former hoping for a repeat of their 4- 0 win over Ajax at the Camp Nou in September last year. The Catalans have won seven out of eight games in La Liga this season. French champions PSG face APOEL, and have yet to lose in this campaign despite rarely performing anywhere near their free- flowing best from last season. However, they were outstanding in defeating Barcelona 3- 2 and are fresh from a 3- 1 win against Lens in Ligue 1 on Friday. CSKA Moscow vs Man City Roma vs Bayern Munich Apoel vs PSG Barcelona vs Ajax Schalke 04 vs Sporting Chelsea vs Maribor Bate Borisov vs Shakhtar Donetsk Porto vs Athletic Bilbao