Champions League: Hot right from the start
(Baonghean.vn) - The group stage of this year's Champions League has begun. The two European giants Barcelona and Liverpool faced a big challenge when they had to play at Dortmund and Napoli's stadiums. Meanwhile, the home team Chelsea is full of hope to win big against Valencia.
Tonight, the opening match of the Champions League group stagewill officially kick off with 8 exciting matches. For Vietnamese football fans, the clashes between the giants Dortmund vs Barcelona, Chelsea vs Valencia, Napoli vs Liverpool always bring fans indescribable emotions.
Champion's view
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| Liverpool will have a tough time at San Paolo. Photo Ghetty |
As usual, all eyes will be on last season's Champions League champions. At home last year, Liverpool defeated many big names such as Bayern Munich, Barcelona,... but they are easy to bully when away from home at Anfield. In 6 away matches last season (from the group stage to the semi-finals), Liverpool lost 4 matches.
Jurgen Klopp's students lost on the field of Paris Saint-Germain, Crvena Zvezda, Barcelona and even... Napoli, scoring 1 goal and conceding 8. Liverpool is the reigning Champions League champion with the worst away record in history.
That promises to make the clash with Serie A representatives Napoli at San Paolo even more exciting. Napoli still have Dries Mertens, Jose Maria Callejon and have the addition of new signing Hirving Lozano from PSV Eindhoven.
Carlo Ancelotti and his team have shown their attacking power with 9 goals in the first 3 matches of the season. Klopp's team will face difficulties because goalkeeper Alisson Becker will be out of action for 7 months and Virgil van Dijk is in poor form.
Homeowner shows off "homegrown plants"
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| Will Lampard “greet” the Champions League with a victory? Photo Ghetty |
HostChelsea had the opportunity to show off their "homegrown" products when coach Frank Lampard and 3 young players he trained himself, Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Fiyako Tomori, were flying high at the beginning of the season.
The above trio, under the guidance of the young coach, have together contributed 11 goals for Chelsea since the beginning of the season. Not only are they good at attacking, Lampard's team is also very diverse in their playing style thanks to the boldness of their youth.
Meanwhile, Valencia President Peter Lim has unexpectedly decided to fire coach Marcelino. The reason given is very unusual, because the team invested too much in the Spanish King's Cup (championship) and only got 4 points after 3 rounds of La Liga this season.
The decision has affected the team, with the 2-5 defeat to Barca last weekend showing how worn down the squad is. Valencia could very well make Lampard's Champions League debut much better than the 4-0 defeat to Manchester United in their Premier League debut.
El Clasico at Signal Iduna Park
The start of the season was not good because Messi was injured, but Barcelona just had a perfect start when they crushed Valencia 5-2 at Camp Nou. They just introduced Ansu Fati - a 16-year-old talent who made a strong impression when he became the youngest player in history to both score and assist in a match. People are hoping that this will be the new discovery of the Champions League this season when both Ronaldo and Messi are on the other side of the career slope.
Besides new signing Antoine Griezmann who has contributed 2 goals since the beginning of the season, striker Luis Suarez has returned from injury and immediately scored a double. Playing away, Barca fans still believe that their attack is capable of penetrating any defense.
But with a good start to the season, 3 wins, 1 loss and temporarily ranked second, there is no reason for Borussia Dortmund to play defensively with Barca. German teams all understand that when putting pressure on the entire pitch, Barca's endurance will be exposed. Marco Reus, Paco Alcacer, Jadon Sancho are all top-class attackers, they have 13 goals after 4 matches, so there is no reason to worry about defense.
The Signal Iduna Park crowd is waiting for a fierce, attacking showdown between two different styles of football. Both Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona have players who can score from half a situation. If Ansu Fati enters the field tonight and scores a goal, “Messi version 2” will consume a lot of ink in the European football press.
The direct, fast and flamboyant attacking style of the two teams will increase the pace of the match at many times. In addition, the calculations of the two teams are almost zero as this is the opening match, the match will likely have at least 3 goals scored.
Schedule of the first round of matches of the 2019-2020 Champions League group stage:
* 23:55 September 17:Inter Milan vs Slavia Prague(K+PM)
* 23:55 September 17:Lyon vs Zenit St Petersburg(K+PC)
* 02:00 September 18:Dortmund vs Barcelona(K+PM)
* 02:00 September 18:Chelsea vs Valencia(K+NS)
* 02:00 September 18:Napoli vs Liverpool(K+PC)
* 02:00 September 18:Ajax vs Lille(K+1)
* 02:00 September 18: Benfica vs RB Leipzig (My K+ Live)
* 02:00 September 18: Red Bull Salzburg vs Racing Genk (My K+Live 2)