Tottenham out to stop Real
Paris, Oct. 16: European champions Real Madrid host Tottenham Hotspur with both teams looking to seize control of the group following back-toback victories to start the competition.
The odds are stacked in favour of the Spaniards who have won three of four meetings with Spurs and are yet to concede a goal against the Premier League side.
Real are unbeaten at home in the group stage dating back to 2009, winning 21 of 23 matches since then at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Luka Modric could face his former club, although Gareth Bale is unlikely to be fit for Real.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first La Liga goal of the season with a late winner in Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Getafe. Tottenham striker Harry Kane has netted 15 goals in his last 11 outings for club and country, but Spurs will be without Dele Alli who serves the final game of a three-match ban. UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
SLOVENIA MARIBOR VS Liverpool head to Slovenia still looking for their first Champions League group-stage victory away from home since a 1-0 win at Debrecen in November 2009. Jurgen Klopp’s men are winless in three games in all competitions and have drawn their first two Group E encounters against Sevilla and Spartak Moscow. The five-time European champions will have to make do without forward Sadio Mane, who is still ruled out with the
muscle problem that forced him to miss Saturday’s drab 0-0 draw with Manchester United. Maribor drew their opening match with Spartak and have a solid European record at home against English teams. Pep Guardiola’s Premier League pace-setters lock horns with Serie ‘A’ frontrunners Napoli as Manchester City attempt to make it three wins from three in the section. The Italians suffered an opening setback to Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, but Maurizio Sarri’s side have swept aside all-comers in Italy — their 1-0 win at Roma. Sevilla top the early group standings after a comfortable victory over Maribor last time out and a 2-2 opening draw at Anfield. Russian champions Spartak held off a Liverpool onslaught to grab their second point in their first Champions League group-stage campaign since 2012. The capital club have turned around a poor start to the season with a nine-match unbeaten streak in all competitions. Sevilla have kicked off the campaign strongly and sit fourth in La Liga despite a 1-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday. The record fivetime Europa League winners are the favourites to top Group ‘E’, as they look to improve on last term’s Champions League showing when they suffered a shock last-16 defeat by Leicester City.