Athletistic/ Football. On October 5, the UEFA Champions League will host matches that will close the 3rd round of the group stage, and some of them could determine the favorites to go out of the group.
European football fans are waiting for the confrontation between the leader of group E – Italian “Milan” – and the unexpected outsider of the group – London “Chelsea”. Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk will battle it out for leadership in Group F, while Spain’s Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund will battle it out for second place in Group G.
10 p.m. Band E. Chelsea-Milan
London “Chelsea” started this season is very ambiguous. In the English Premier League, after seven games, the team takes the 5th row in the standings, with 13 points to its credit and one game less. Behind the leader – London “Arsenal” – is 8 points.
In the Champions League, things are even worse for the Blues: the English club started with a minimal defeat of Dinamo Zagreb (0-1), after which the team’s head coach, Thomas Tuchel, was sacked . Chelsea’s new mentor, England’s Graham Potter, from Brighton, has so far only led the team in two games: in the Champions League, Potter drew with Red Bull Salzburg (1 -1), in the English Championship. beat Crystal Palace 2-1.
The English club are only getting stronger in the season and doing so in a very measured way, as evidenced by the last place in the Champions League group. The game with Milan will be Potter’s first serious test at the helm of Chelsea. If the London club win, they will tie the Rossoneri on points – both teams will have 4 points each. Any other result will benefit Milan and other Group E sides Dynamo Zagreb and Red Bull Salzburg, but not Chelsea.
At the home stadium “Stamford Bridge”, Graham Potter has every chance to get the first victory of his career in the Champions League and the first victory for “Chelsea” in the current tournament draw. Chelsea are the favorites for the match, if only because Milan will definitely miss six players from the main clip due to injuries of varying severity – goalkeeper Mike Menian, defenders Davide Calabria, Simon Chier and Alessandro Florenzi, midfielder Alexis Salemakers and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is still recovering from knee surgery. The participation of two other basemen in the game is questionable – defenseman Theo Hernandez and forward Divock Origi.
Quantitatively, Stefano Pioli has a replacement for all the injured. But whether this replacement will be of high quality is a big question, especially since Chelsea have no personnel problems, there are only small questions about the physical condition of goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, as well as midfielders. field Jorginho, Ngolo Kante and Kai Havertz.
10 p.m. Band F. Real Madrid – Shakhtar
Madrid “Real” – one of the three teams in the current Champions League draw, which not only did not lose in the group, but did not miss a single goal. The other two – Bayern Munich and Belgium’s Brugge – have already played their third round matches on Tuesday, Real Madrid will have to show their class on Wednesday – in a home game with Shakhtar.
In other scenarios, there is no doubt that the “Royal Club” will score another victory and once again keep their gates intact. But there are two very important points: in the previous league match, Real lost points for the first time, having played a 1-1 draw with Mallorca, and in the match with Shakhtar, the main goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois will not help the Madrid club. At the beginning of October, the Belgian was diagnosed with sciatica, he had already missed the game with Mallorca and, judging by the result of the match, Courtois’ replacement Andrei Lunin didn’t quite cope with his task.
However, we should not blame Lunin alone for the unfortunate result with Mallorca: Real Madrid could have beaten their opponent if Karim Benzema converted a penalty in the 79th minute of the match.
Will Shakhtar take advantage of Courtois’ absence to push Lunin? The team has every chance to impose at least one fight on the prominent opponent, because in previous matches the Pitmen beat RB Leipzig on their home ground (4: 1) and drew with Celtic ( 1:1) for a reason. Real Madrid will face a team that is their main challenger for the top spot in the group. Whether the wards of Carlo Ancelotti confirm the status of unconditional favorites of the quartet or fail – the game will show. But everything favors the fact that the “creamy” will win a third victory in the group, even despite the absence of Thibault Courtois.
10 p.m. Band g. Sevilla – Borussia Dortmund
The Spanish “Sevilla” started the season disastrously, both in the Spanish La Liga and in the UEFA Champions League. In the event of an unsatisfactory result, Andalusian head coach Julen Lopetegui will almost certainly be sacked from his post. In the Spanish championship, “Sevilla” after 7 rounds takes 17th place, with only 5 points to the credit. The team has 1 win, 2 draws and 4 losses.
In the Champions League, the Spanish team is no better. The defeat of Manchester City in the first round of the group stage with a score of 0:4 surprised no one, but in the second round Sevilla had to get the most out of the game with the not so formidable Copenhagen, but rather played with the Danish team to a goalless draw.
As for Borussia Dortmund, the team predictably and very confidently beat Copenhagen (3:0) in the first round of the group stage and then lost to Manchester City (1:2) in the same predictable way, although this match could have ended for the “Bumblebees”, it is not a defeat at all, if they had not conceded two goals from the 80th to the 84th minute, leading 1-0.
In the Bundesliga, Borussia does not shine with stability – 5 wins and 3 losses in 8 rounds – but this does not prevent the team from occupying the fourth row of the standings with 15 points and trailing the leaders – Union Berlin and Freiburg – only 2 peaks. Borussia Dortmund are the favorites for the game, despite the encounter taking place at Sevilla’s home stadium, Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. If, by some miracle, Lopetegui revives the team and defeats a strong opponent, his resignation can at least be postponed. But we have the feeling that the coach himself, the management of the club and the players have already accepted his departure and are ready to develop in different ways.
Maxim Fomchenkov, sport.ru
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I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
