Matchday 2 is one of my favourite football days.
The clubs are trying. I love these games because the clubs are all trying.
No club is out yet, nobody has qualified yet. Groups are often shaped before Matchday4, so I don’t get the same buzz. My interest declines sharply unless it’s a tight Group.
Partisan Belgrade are Serbian champions who are catching Arsenal at a bad moment, coming off a surprise home defeat by West Brom.
Their Brazilian striker Cleo, 25, has just been granted citizenship, so he can play for Serbia’s national team.
Cleo played for Red Star Belgrade last season and is a cute touch player who gets into dangerous positions. Can Arsenal mark him?
This is a pressure game for the skilful Serbs, who lost 1-0 to Shakhtar Donetsz on Matchday 1, so it will be interesting to see whether Partizan defend high up the pitch, closing down Arsenal’s defenders. Wenger has suggested they’ll sit back and counter. It’s encouraging that Jack Wilshere comes back but a pity that Fabregas will not play with him. Jack passes to Cesc a lot.
It’s down to Arshavin and Wilshere to open Partizan up.
If they can’t do that, the game could be a draw. Remember: Partizan are not world-beaters.
Belgrade-born coach Aleksandar Stanojevic, 36, is a former Partizan midfielder who bossed the Serbian Under-19 team for two years. In the Qualifying Round they played Anderlecht and both games finished 2-2 and the Serbs won the penalty shoot-out by 3-2.
Chelsea v Marseilles might be interesting, even without the suspended Drogba playing against his former club.
Didier Deschamps is a winner who captained France in the glory years of the 1998 World Cup and through Euro 2000. In 2010 he won the French league in his first season as coach of Marseilles, a difficult, turbulent club. He played for Carlo Ancelotti for six months of his five years at Juventus, where he won Serie A three times and also won the Champions League. Deschamps played 47 games for Chelsea ten years ago.
The Champions League often pairs the same teams but Matchday 2 usually supplies a few fresh match-ups.
Auxerre v Real Madrid, anyone? Auxerre is a tiny town which punches well above its weight in football.
Roma v the Romanians of Cluj, an interesting little outfit. Totti the totem is well past his prime but Vucinic is still scores superb goals and will be a danger to England when they meet Montenegro.
Off-form Schalke host off-form Benfica.
Spurs will play Twente with Corluka and Bassong at centreback.
A year ago Rubin Kazan and Barcelona were in Group F with Dynamo Kiev and Inter, who became European Champions. Rubin started by losing 3-1 in Kiev, then drew 1-1 with Inter, who finished with 10 men after Balotelli was sent off. Then Rubin Kazan went to the Nou Camp and won 2-1 but Barca held them to a 0-0 draw in Russia and Rubin v Kiev was also 0-0. In the San Siro they lost 2-0 after goals by Eto’o and Balotelli.
So Rubin Kazan only lost two games in a very tough group. Six points was a decent effort.They are at home to Barcelona again on Wednesday night.
With Giggs and Rooney out, Nani might be Manchester United’s main threat against Valencia in Wednesday’s ITV game.
Valencia are top of La Liga after five games.
United didn’t play well in their 2-2 draw at Bolton. But Nani scored their first equaliser and laid on the cross for Michael Owen’s header. United have conceded nine goals in their last five Premier League games, including three at Everton, who are bottom of the league. United fans will be apprehensive on Wednesday night.
I’ve corrected what I wrote on ANR yesterday. But I haven’t changed what I said about Almunia.
Broadcaster Ken Early likes Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris and writes knowledgeably from a long perspective.