UEFA Champions League Tues/Wed Live Chat

Champions League football is finally back!

Europe’s top 32 teams kick off their UCL campaigns today and tomorrow in their respective groups. There are some mouthwatering fixtures scheduled to get us underway.

Here is the UCL Matchday 1 Schedule for the next two days:

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Tuesday 17th September

• Inter Milan vs Slavia Prague
• Lyon vs Zenit St. Petersburg
• Ajax vs Lille
• Benfica vs RB Leipzig
• Borussia Dortmund vs Barcelona
• Chelsea vs Valencia
• Napoli vs Liverpool
• Red Bull Salzburg vs Genk

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Wednesday 18th September

• Club Brugge vs Galatasaray
• Olympiakos FC vs Tottenham
• Atletico Madrid vs Juventus
• Bayer Leverkusen vs Lokomotiv Moscow
• Bayern Munich vs Crvena Zvezda
• Dinamo Zagreb vs Atalanta
• Paris Saint-Germain vs Real Madrid
• Shakhtar Donetsk vs Manchester City

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Tuesday 17^th September

Photo credit should read PAU BARRENA/AFP/Getty Images

Defending European champions Liverpool kick off their title defense with a tough away trip to Napoli. Carlo Ancelotti’s men are a breathtaking attacking outfit, and possess weapons like Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon to hurt the Merseyside team. With the fearsome front three of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino ready to rock, we can expect fireworks from Jurgen Klopp’s troops.

Another incumbent European champion kicks off today as well. As a die-hard Chelsea fan, it’s great to see my youthful team back where they belong in the Champions League, having tasted glory in the Europa League last year. They’re up against a Valencia team distracted by internal strife – hopefully an easy win for the Blues here.

Borussia Dortmund welcome Barcelona to the Westfalonstadion in probably the most appealing tie of the round. With Lionel Messi an injury doubt, the young guns of Dortmund will relish their chances of turning over Ernesto Valverde’s men on home turf. Paco Alcacer at the tip of the attack will be super motivated against his former players and can count on adequate services from the likes of Marco Reus, Jadon Sancho and Co. On the other side of the coin, Antoine Griezmann, Luis Suarez and Frenkie De Jong are the ones to watch.

Elsewhere, Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan return to the competition with a straightforward looking tie against Slavia Prague. French architects Lyon welcome Zenit St. Petersburg in their opening tie. Last year’s beaten semi-finalists Ajax restart their engines against a powerful Lille team. And lastly, Red Bull Salzburg of Austria make their Champions League bow against Belgian outfit Genk.

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Wednesday 18^th September

Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images

Paris St. Germain welcome Real Madrid in the game of the day. This tie pits two of Europe’s super rich clubs against each other in a top tier Group A clash.

For the Parisians, I’m really excited to see Keylor Navas against his former club. He’ll definitely want to show his previous club that they’ve kept the wrong goalkeeper. Also, with Neymar out suspended, could we see a Champions League debut for Mauro Icardi?

Speaking of new club debuts, Eden Hazard is fit and ready to take place in Zinedine Zidane’s starting lineup. Alongside Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, we can expect some wonderful attacking football in this one.

The other huge tie of the day sees Atletico Madrid welcome Juventus to the capital. Diego Simeone’s men will be scarred by memories of last season’s quarterfinal elimination, when a 2^nd leg hattrick from Cristiano Ronaldo bounced them from the tournament. All eyes will be on young Portuguese sensation Joao Felix for a revamped Atletico team.

Juventus are also in the midst of their own Maurizio Sarri led renaissance. It will be interesting which of the plethora of new signings make their UCL bows, with Matthias De Ligt, Adrien Rabiot and Aaron Ramsey likely to see action. However it’s the tournament’s all-time greatest goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo who will attract attention.

Elsewhere, EPL front runners Manchester City and Tottenham face tricky away trips to Shakhtar Donetsk and Olympiakos respectively. Atalanta will begin their first ever Champions League campaign with a difficult trip to Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia.

Bayer Leverkusen will be confident that their exciting young troops have enough to handle visiting Lokomotiv Moscow in Group D. And lastly, Belgian champs Club Brugge welcome the Turkish giants Galatasaray in their Group A match.

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Which match(es) will you watch? Have you revamped your team? Who’s your captain? Who do you think will advance to the next round? Please join us in the comments as all of the exciting action unfolds!

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