Paris: Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United will be looking to maintain their robust start to their Champions League campaign when they head to Benfica on Wednesday while Antonio Conte’s Chelsea entertain Roma.
Barcelona and Lionel Messi meanwhile play their first home match at the Camp Nou since the Catalonia independence referendum that plunged Spain into chaos, when Olympiakos visit.
Benfica vs Man U
Manchester United can take a giant stride towards a first appearance in the knockout stages since the 2013/14 season with a win at pointless Benfica — a repeat of the 1968 final. The Portuguese champions suffered a humiliating 5-0 defeat at Basel last time out — their heaviest in the competition — following an opening home loss to CSKA Moscow.
United played out a dire 0-0 draw at bitter rivals Liverpool on Saturday, falling two points behind Manchester City in the Premier League after failing to score for the first time this term.
Moscow vs Basel
The two sides face off in Russia with the chance to steal a march in the battle to stay within sight of pace-setters Manchester United.
CSKA have won all four prior meetings with Swiss opponents, including home-and-away victories over Young Boys in this year’s play-off round, but finished bottom in each of their past four group campaigns.
Basel’s club-record demolition of Benfica halted a nine-match winless run in Europe, but they are only third in Switzerland as they hunt a ninth straight domestic crown.
Bayern vs Celtic
Jupp Heynckes embarked on his fourth spell as Bayern Munich coach with a 5-0 rout of Freiburg on Saturday after replacing the sacked Carlo Ancelotti.
The 72-year-old led Bayern to the treble in 2013 before retiring and was brought in to steady the ship after Bayern were thumped 3-0 by Paris Saint-Germain in their last European outing. Celtic recorded a first group stage win away from home in 17 attempts with an impressive 3-0 victory at Anderlecht last month. Bayern have never lost against Scottish opposition in Munich, defeating Celtic 2-1 in 2003-04.
Anderlecht vs PSG
Paris Saint-Germain’s electrifying strikeforce of Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe has propelled the French heavyweights to commanding back-to-back wins in the section. Anderlecht could be in for another long evening as they search for their first goal and point — PSG thrashed the Belgians 5-0 in 2013/14 when Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored four times in Brussels.
Cavani and Marco Verratti could return for Unai Emery’s team after missing the hard-fought 2-1 win at Dijon over the weekend that sent them six points clear in France.
Qarabag vs Atletico
Runners-up twice in the past four seasons, Atletico Madrid are looking to bounce back from a last-gasp defeat by Chelsea when they head to newcomers Qarabag. Diego Simeone’s team are unbeaten in La Liga but were foiled by a late equaliser from Luis Suarez in 1-1 draw with Barcelona.
