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It’s Champions League time again
Agencies
The Champions League group stage kicks off on Tuesday with Bayern Munich beginning their defence of the trophy won in Lisbon in August. Here are some of the storylines to watch over the next few weeks.
Pirlo up against his old master
In 1995, Mircea Lucescu gave midfielder Andrea Pirlo his Serie A debut at 16. Some 25 years on, Lucescu will be on the opposite bench when Pirlo makes his UEFA Champions League coaching debut with Juventus. The 75-year-old Dynamo Kyiv boss remembers the young Pirlo as: “Incredible, mature; mature like he is now.” Can the 41-year-old outfox his old mentor in Ukraine, even with star striker Ronaldo absent?
All eyes on Camavinga
Like Pirlo, midfielder Eduardo Camavinga was 16 when he made his top-flight bow, and the Rennes man subsequently became France’s youngest senior international debutant since 1914 when he featured in the UEFA Nations League in September at 17. He should catch the eye in Rennes’s group stage debut against Krasnodar; as his old Rennes youth coach Landry Chauvin put it: “He has this simplicity that brings the ball to life.”
Will Messi close the gap?
With Ronaldo isolating, Lionel Messi has a chance to narrow the 15-goal gulf between the two megastars at the top of the all-time UEFA Champions League rankings. Ferencvaros visit Camp Nou, but Messi will not remember his only past meeting with a Hungarian side fondly. At 18, he made his Argentina debut in an August 2005 friendly against the Magyars. He was sent off within two minutes of coming on.
Can Immobile show Dortmund his worth?
Outscoring Robert Lewandowski to win last season’s ESM Golden Shoe with 36 league goals will have brought a certain satisfaction for Lazio’s Ciro Immobile. The forward replaced Lewandowski when the Pole left Dortmund for Bayern in 2014, but underperformed in his only season in Germany: ten goals in 34 games in all competitions. As Lazio welcome Dortmund, the 30-year-old has a chance to get some closure.
PSG v United: The revenge mission
On 6 March this year, Marcus Rashford posted an Instagram to mark one year since his late penalty in Paris completed a stunning round of 16 comeback, the Reds Devils overturning a 2-0 home defeat to progress with a 3-1 success at Parc des Princes. “What a night,” wrote Rashford. Neymar, who watched both legs from the sidelines, will be anxious to help PSG get their own back.
Lewandowski v Suarez
With 15 goals over the course of Bayern’s stunning campaign -- 11 games, 11 wins -- Robert Lewandowski was the star of last season’s UEFA Champions League, and a clear winner in the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year vote. He will seek to maintain that striking form in this season’s group stage, but an opener against miserly Atletico means he could be upstaged by Los Colchoneros’ new arrival Luis Suarez.
Like the first time for Ramos
Matchday 1 could easily feel like Groundhog Day for Sergio Ramos; Real Madrid’s game against Shakhtar marks the start of the defender’s 17th successive UEFA Champions League campaign. However, no one sums up the spirit of the competition quite like the 34-year-old. As he put it: “You have to reset every year and start from scratch; to live each triumph, every trophy win, as if it were a completely new thing.”
Liverpool v Ajax: Battle of the giants
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this matchday 1 fixture is that it is only Ajax and Liverpool’s third European encounter. Their first two tussles came in the 1966/67 European Cup second round; Johan Cruyff scored three across two legs as Ajax won 5-1 in Amsterdam then drew 2-2 at Anfield. Having netted in four of his side’s last seven European away games, might Salah be the star this time around?
An Olympian struggle for Valbuena
“Marseille and me, we’re linked for life,” tweeted Mathieu Valbuena after his current club, Olympiacos, drew OM in the group stage. The midfielder spent eight seasons at Marseille before leaving for Dinamo Moskva in 2015, so fans were not exactly delighted when he returned to France to join Marseille’s rivals Lyon two years later. Expect that relationship to remain complicated as the 36-year-old lines up on Wednesday.
Underdogs aim to prove themselves great Danes
Four teams make group stage debuts on matchday 1: Basaksehir, Krasnodar and Rennes kick off on Tuesday, while Midtjylland meet Atalanta in their opener on Wednesday. Denmark’s champions have had the longest journey; they made it through two qualifying rounds before beating Slavia Praha in the play-offs, coach Brian Priske saying: “Getting to the group stage is the ultimate.”
photo: Bayern Munich
2020-21
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