PARIS
Manchester
City's home clash with Pep Guardiola's reigning European champions
Bayern Munich will capture the imagination of most on Wednesday evening,
while the pressure is on David Moyes as Manchester United face Shakhtar
Donetsk.
GROUP A
Bayer Leverkusen (GER) v Real Sociedad (ESP)
Both
Leverkusen and Real Sociedad are looking to get their campaigns up and
running after suffering defeats on matchday one. Leverkusen went down
4-2 to Manchester United at Old Trafford in their opening game, while
the Basque side lost 2-0 at home against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Sami
Hyypia's team will fancy their chances of registering all three points
at the BayArena, however, fresh as they are from a third straight
Bundesliga win on Saturday against Hannover.
While
they are enjoying their best start to a league season, Real, in
contrast, have gone six games without a win, their worst sequence of
results in two years, and coach Jagoba Arrasate is without Esteban
Granero and the influential Xabi Prieto for the trip to Germany.
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) v Manchester United (ENG)
A
trip to deepest Ukraine is surely the last thing that David Moyes
wanted as the pressure builds on the Scotsman following Manchester
United's worst start to a domestic campaign in 24 years.
United's
2-1 home loss to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday was their third
defeat already in just six Premier League games, but at least Moyes
oversaw a 4-2 win against Bayer Leverkusen in his opening Champions
League group game in charge a fortnight ago.
Wayne
Rooney scored twice in that game and Moyes - who has admitted his side
lack sufficient world-class talent to win the Champions League - will
need the England star at his best in the Donbass Arena.
Shakhtar
needed a late comeback to draw 2-2 away to unheralded local rivals
Metalurg at the weekend but their European opener was an impressive 2-0
win at Real Sociedad and they have previous against English opposition,
beating Chelsea at home last season.
GROUP B
Real Madrid (ESP) v FC Copenhagen (DEN)
After
the humiliation of losing the Madrid derby at the weekend, Real coach
Carlo Ancelotti knows the importance of getting back to winning ways in
Europe.
The visit of a Copenhagen side who sit second
from bottom of the Danish league and lost 3-2 to Brondby at the weekend
should provide the perfect opportunity for the Spanish giants, although
Stale Solbakken's men did hold Juventus in their opening Group B game.
Iker
Casillas will make his first appearance at the Santiago Bernabeu in
almost nine months as Ancelotti again gives the nod to the Spain captain
ahead of Diego Lopez in goal in Europe.
Gareth Bale could also make his first start at home for his new club, who thumped Galatasaray 6-1 away last time out.
Juventus (ITA) v Galatasaray (TUR)
After
being held by Copenhagen two weeks ago, Italian champions Juventus
chase a first win in Group B as they play host to Galatasaray, who are
seeking an improvement on their 6-1 thumping at the hands of Real
Madrid.
Antonio Conte's Juve, who won the last of their
two European Cups in 1996, beat city rivals Torino 1-0 at the weekend
thanks to a Paul Pogba strike and remain unbeaten in all competitions
this season, even if they trail Roma by two points at the top of Serie
A.
The Turks come into the game with a new coach who is
familiar with taking on Juve. Former Lazio, Inter Milan and Manchester
City boss Roberto Mancini was on Monday appointed as the replacement for
the sacked Fatih Terim.
His remit is to revive a side who sit in mid-table in their domestic league with just one win from five games.
GROUP C
Anderlecht (BEL) v Olympiakos (GRE)
Belgian
champions Anderlecht and Greek title-holders Olympiakos are, on paper,
the outsiders to qualify from Group C and both were beaten on matchday
one.
Anderlecht went down 2-0 away to Benfica while Olympiakos were outclassed in a 4-1 home loss to Paris Saint-Germain.
The
Belgians have a proud history and beat AEK Athens home and away when
they last faced Greek opponents in the Europa League two years ago, but
John Van den Brom's men are fourth in their domestic Pro League, nine
points behind leaders Standard, and appear ill-equipped to make an
impact in this competition.
Olympiakos, who have lost
99 times in Europe, are top of the Greek Super League without defeat and
may fancy their chances of recording an away win here.
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) v Benfica (POR)
Paris
Saint-Germain underlined their status as Group C favourites by thumping
Olympiakos in Greece two weeks ago, and can take a big step towards
qualifying for the last 16 by beating Benfica at the Parc des Princes.
Laurent
Blanc's side have struggled to convince so far this season, but remain
unbeaten in all competitions while Benfica - who beat Anderlecht 2-0 in
their opening game - are only fifth in the Portuguese top flight, five
points behind leaders Porto.
However, the Lisbon club
can expect a warm backing in the French capital, which is home to a
large Portuguese population. PSG will be without captain Thiago Silva
due to injury as they chase revenge for a defeat to the same team in the
Europa League last 16 in 2011.
GROUP D
CSKA Moscow (RUS) v Viktoria Pilsen (CZE)
The
poor state of the Arena Khimki pitch in Moscow led to this match being
moved 700 kilometres to St Petersburg. CSKA and the Czech champions both
lost their opening games and are expected to fight it out for third
place in Group D behind Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
CSKA's
preparations for this encounter have not been the best - they lost 2-0
at Terek Grozny at the weekend and have failed to win, or even score, in
their last three domestic matches. In contrast, Pavel Vrba's Pilsen are
still unbeaten in the Czech league and have won five and lost two of
their last seven European away games.
Manchester City (ENG) v Bayern Munich (GER)
This
encounter at the Etihad Stadium promises to be fascinating, with City
manager Manuel Pellegrini coming up against Bayern's Pep Guardiola
again. The pair are familiar with one another from their time in Spain,
in particular when they occupied the dugouts at Real Madrid and
Barcelona respectively in 2009-10.
The two Group D
favourites meet on the back of wins in their opening matches, with City
triumphing away to Viktoria Pilsen while Bayern beat CSKA Moscow at
home.
Goals from David Silva and Yaya Toure gave City a
2-0 win when they played host to Bayern in this competition two years
ago, but the English side have failed to progress beyond the group stage
in either of the last two years while Bayern are the reigning European
champions.
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