CHRIS SUTTON’S EUROPEAN GUIDE
MAN CITY Group C — Porto Olympiacos, Marseille
PEP GUARDIOLA fluffed his lines last season, opting for a three-man defence against Lyon in the quarter-finals. That taught City they cannot underestimate ‘inferior’ opponents, and they have banana skins in Group C. Porto aren’t the Portuguese powerhouse of old but they won Primeira Liga last season. Marseille are tricky, too, with Dimitri Payet a threat. Guardiola should be aiming to turn qualification from this group into a formality.
WEDNESDAY: v Porto (h). FORM GUIDE: Porto were 2-1 up and three minutes from victory at Sporting Lisbon, but Luciano Vietto struck with a late equaliser on Saturday.
LIVERPOOL
Group D — Ajax, Atalanta, Midtjylland
JURGEN KLOPP will know it is imperative his team make a good start. They begin at Ajax and a win on Wednesday would take the pressure off and might help Klopp when it comes to rotating his side in later matches, as he looks to be competitive in multiple competitions. It isn’t the easiest group. Even Midtjylland have tricky players, such as Pione Sisto, the Denmark winger who faced England in midweek.
WEDNESDAY: v Ajax (a) FORM GUIDE: The Dutch giants cruised to a 5-1 win over Heerenveen yesterday with former Southampton striker Dusan Tadic scoring twice.
CHELSEA
Group E — Sevilla, Krasnodar, Rennes
THE pressure is on Frank Lampard this season. Silverware is a must. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich wants to win the big trophies and it doesn’t get bigger than the Champions League, which Chelsea last won in 2012. Yet if they don’t improve defensively, they will get nowhere near. We know all about Sevilla, those Europa League specialists. Rennes are a solid side, too. Lampard faces tricky tests here.
TOMORROW: v Sevilla (h). FORM GUIDE: The Spaniards’ 18-match unbeaten run in La Liga ended with a 1-0 defeat by Granada on Saturday.
MAN UTD
Group H — PSG, RB Leipzig, Istanbul Basaksehir
UNITED face the most difficult group. They have last season’s finalists Paris Saint-Germain, and semi-finalists RB Leipzig. If you offered Ole Gunnar Solskjaer second place in Group H now, I suspect he’d bite your hand off. PSG will want to do a Liverpool and go one better this time. RB Leipzig, meanwhile, are top of the Bundesliga table for a reason. They’re a team who play on the front foot. Solskjaer will do well to qualify.
TOMORROW: v PSG (a) FORM GUIDE: Kylian Mbappe scored twice to set PSG on their way to a 4-0 win at Nimes on Friday night.