European football is back, and how!
Barcelona are facing Inter Milan after drawing against Dortmund in the group stage game on matchday one, while the defending champions, Liverpool square off against Red Bull Salzburg at home.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are looking to extend their winning run and Serie A experiences a battle for the top spot early in the season.
UEFA Champions League
The matchday two of UEFA Champions League and Europa League looks quite sorted with the group favourites taking on the lower-ranked teams. Barcelona, of course, are one of the exceptions, as they face Inter Milan at Camp Nou.
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Tottenham Hotspur vs Bayern Munich
Tottenham will take on German champions Bayern Munich in the group B match where both the teams are favourites to qualify for the round of 16. With both the teams eyeing top spots, Bayern have a slight advantage over last season’s runners-up as on matchday one, Mauricio Pochettino’s men threw away their two-goal lead against Olympiacos in Athens.
Also, their form in the Premier League has not been up to the level that they promised after a good run in the last season. Bayern are looking to reshape themselves following the departures of Frank Ribery and Arjen Robben.
The youngsters, in turn, have brought a fresh look to the team and Ivan Perisic and Kingsley Coman have taken over the wings quite nicely. They comfortably defeated Red Stars 3-0 on the previous matchday and thus have an edge over the north London side.
English Premier League
Apart from European football catching all the eyes in this week’s football, Premier League teams will be taking on each other by the end of the week. With Liverpool taking on Leicester City and Chelsea up against Southampton, the English League also offers a lot of football action during the weekend.
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Manchester City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers
Manchester City have won four of their last five matches that includes their last week’s thumping win over Watford which saw the visitors getting thrashed 8-0. They only lost to Norwich 3-2 in their Premier League meeting but playing Wolves won’t be a difficult task for them. At home, City will be looking to put more pressure on a side which is yet to win a league fixture.
Serie A
With Inter Milan doing well under their new coach Antonio Conte, the Italian league is becoming more exciting than ever. Big names like AS Roma and AC Milan are not even in the top six and other teams of the league are likely to make things more difficult for the giants going ahead.
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Juventus vs Inter Milan
Juventus won their eighth consecutive Serie A title last season. Their domination in the Italian League, however, is looking in danger as the sleeping giants, Inter, have woken up to make the league more competitive.
Maurizio Sarri’s men will be keen to get a positive result, but with their big guns still to fire this season, this will be a tight call. On paper, Juventus would surely be an easy choice, having players like Ronaldo, Higuain and Dybala in their roster, but Inter have defied odds this season in style.
What to do now? Head to Sportsbet.io to select your picks.
Feature Image Courtesy: AFP/ Isabella Bonotto
