After all of the exciting international action, we return to the club level with the latest round of the Champions League taking place tomorrow, Tuesday the 26th. The match-ups are thrilling as always and have the potential of deciding who we'll see in the knock-out rounds. Russia's Zenit St. Petersburg greet Atletico Madrid of Spain in a match-up between Group G's top two. Having said that, the 7 point gap between Madrid who are up top and Zenit who presently hold 2nd contributes to the must-win nature of the match: Portugal's Porto will be hosting Austria Wein in a game that should go the way of the Portuguese. If that is the case and the Spaniards claim victory in Russia, the table would have Madrid untouchable with 15 points and Porto in 2nd with 7. Austria Wein are playing for pride at this point with just a point to their name as a loss for Zenit would drop them to 3rd with just 5 points and a game to play.
Over in Group E, Switzerland's Basel host England's giants Chelsea. Despite the imperfect nature of Chelsea's qualification campaign up to this point, they sit top of the group with 3 points over 2nd place Schalke. Basel, in 3rd, have 5 while 4th position Steaua Bucuresti have 2. The home field advantage should help the Swiss side, though I cannot see them overpowering the Blues. Over in Romania, Steaua will hope for a better performance against Germany's Schalke at home though the latter side are arguably the favorites.
Group H's bottom of the table Celtic will hope to put on a show in Glasgow when they face Italy's AC Milan. Though typically better at home, I can't help but feel the Scots will fall to the power of the Italians. Nevertheless, the hope of qualification may spur Celtic to victory - 3 points and a Barcelona victory against Ajax would position Celtic in 2nd a point above Milan. I doubt it'll happen but I'll be cheering for them! Group leaders Barcelona sit tidy with 10 points and should play well in Holland when they face-off against 3rd position Ajax who have 4.
Rounding up the action tomorrow, Group F has co-leaders Arsenal taking on bottom-of-the-table Marseille at home in England. With 0 points up to this point, I think the French side would be incredibly lucky to get through the 90 minutes with a draw. The other side with 9 points, Napoli, travel to Germany as they face 3rd place Dortmund who have 6. Victory for the Germans would move them up to at least 2nd thanks to a superior goal difference than their Italian counterparts. With that in mind, the performance over the weekend by the Gelsenkirchen side was not confidence-inspiring: losing 3-0 at home to Bayern Munich! I would not say that Napoli are quite at Bayern's level, and their recent performances have been less than ideal. Based on the team-sheets, the continued losses of Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer, and Neven Subotic will hurt the Germans - particularly defensively. At the same time, Marek Hamsik's injury on the Napoli side decreases their goal-scoring options. In the end, the Italians arguably have a greater depth in terms of goal-scoring, but the match will be decided by the defenses. Enjoy the games and look for more tomorrow!
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