Bayer Leverkusen v Atletico Madrid

Bayer Leverkusen vs Atlético Madrid is a fixture that brings up memories of Jan Oblak’s incredible triple save in the Champions League in 2017. But the Slovenian shot-stopper might not be able to take part in this one. He suffered a knock at the start of the month, one that forced him to sit out Atleti’s 4-1 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday. Even though he is in the travelling squad for this trip to Leverkusen, he is not certain to start. Add to that the fact that Atlético Madrid are also missing Stefan Savic and José María Giménez and Bayer Leverkusen might finally find some joy after a fairly slow start to their new season in a scoring sense.

At the other end, though, Bayer Leverkusen have been porous and have conceded the fifth-most goals in the Bundesliga so far this campaign, with 11 let in in six matches. Going up against an Atlético attack led by a well-rested João Félix, after he only came off the bench on Saturday, they could struggle in defence too.

There really could be a lot of goals at the BayArena, as these are two teams struggling to find their identities for the 2022/23 campaign, scoring and conceding as they do so. Both teams have struggled in midfield to start the campaign, leading to many end-to-end games over the first few weeks of 2022/23.

That’s shown by the fact that Bayer Leverkusen’s games so far in the Bundesliga have averaged 3.17 goals in total, with 83% of them having more than 2.5 goals. Meanwhile, Atlético’s have had 2.6 goals on average and 40% have had more than 2.5 goals.

The 2-2 that Bayer had on Saturday vs Hertha Berlin and the 4-1 win Atleti had over Celta were concerning for both coaches in their own way. But, for those hoping for goals this midweek, there was a lot to be excited about as these two teams continue to leave gaps in their midfields.

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Bayern Munich v Barcelona

Bayern Munich host Barcelona at the Allianz Arena on the second matchday of the Champions League. When the groups were drawn, this was immediately highlighted as a fixture to watch out for. A classic in recent years which resulted in Bayern thrashing Barcelona 8-2 in the 2019/20 quarter-final, the German side then beat Barca 3-0 on both occasions during the group stage last season. Only this time, Robert Lewandowski will be playing for the opposition after eight years and 344 goals at Bayern Munich.

As reported by BILD on Sunday night, players are already starting to question Julian Nagelsmann’s tactics following their 2-2 draw against Stuttgart on Saturday, a game that they failed to control. Moving away from his preferred 4-2-2-2 as used throughout this season, Nagelsmann opted for a 4-2-3-1 at the weekend. Matthijs de Ligt started alongside Dayot Upamecano and in truth, struggled against Stuttgart forward Serhou Guirassy, who was awarded his first start after joining VfB on deadline day. The Dutchman only won 53% of his challenges and 33% of his tackles, conceding a penalty against Guirassy in the 92^nd minute, ultimately throwing away a win.

Sadio Mané and Leroy Sané dropped to the bench with Tuesday’s game against Barcelona in mind. One player Nagelsmann will be without is Kingsley Coman, whilst Marcel Sabitzer could return alongside Joshua Kimmich. In the Bundesliga, Bayern top several categories: goals/90 (3.2), chances/90 (11) and shots on target/90 (11). Scoring goals shouldn’t be a problem for Bayern, who also impressed against Inter, winning 2-0. Of their 22 shots, 12 found the target. The movement of Musiala, Mané, Sané and Müller will no doubt cause Barcelona’s defensive block problems, but it’s Bayern’s defence that isn’t up to par this season.

Coming into this game having scored 15 goals in their last four league games, excluding the five Barcelona scored past Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League, Xavi’s side are excellent going forward and former Bayern forward Lewandowski has started his tenure at the Catalan side with aplomb, scoring nine in six games. Manuel Neuer, Upamecano, Kimmich & Co. will know all about their former teammate, but they’ll need a plan to stop the Poland international. Barcelona have been criticised in recent years for not being clinical but against Plzen, they outscored their xG (3.2) by 1.8.

This should ultimately be an entertaining, end-to end game. Barcelona have kept three clean sheets in their last four games in all competitions but with the fluidity of Bayern’s new look attack, they should be able to create chances from the wide areas. With the addition of Lewandowski, Barcelona will always prove a threat going forward and if recent games in the Bundesliga are anything to go by, the Catalan side should have no problem creating numerous opportunities to test Neuer. I suspect this to be a high intensity game, with both teams scoring.

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Marseille v Eintracht Frankfurt

Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt are playing in the Champions League for the first time since 1959/60. One of Germany’s biggest clubs, they couldn’t have got off to a worse start against Sporting CP on the first matchday last week. In a rather drab affair, Eintracht failed to covert any of their three chances, but Sporting CP scored three of their four, proving clinical in front of goal with an xG of just 1.07.

What worked so well last season for Eintracht was their 3-4-3 with Filip Kostic and Ansgar Knauff operating on the flanks but because of the departure of the former, Glasner has switched to a 4-2-3-1, which has seen Kristijan Jakic, a defensive-midfielder, play at right-back or Knauff, who is attack-minded and is therefore prone to leaving space behind which Marseille’s Nuno Tavares can exploit as a left wing-back.

In their seven games across the Bundesliga and Champions League this season, Eintracht have scored 11 but conceded 15 from 45 chances. Rafael Borre is struggling, Lucas Alario is yet to score in anything other than the DFB Pokal and only Daichi Kamada (3 in 6) and Randal Kolo Muani (2 in 7) look like finding the net. Mario Götze has also been disappointing since his move from PSV.

As for Marseille, Igor Tudor’s side sit level with PSG on 19 points in Ligue 1. They tend to operate with a back three with Jonathan Klauss and Tavares providing width. Marseille’s last seven games in all competitions have all finished with under 3.5 goals and they don’t tend to create much, but they are clinical. Against Tottenham Hotspur, Marseille held their own until Chancel Mbemba was sent off after 47 minutes. Even then, they limited Tottenham’s opportunities and only a five-minute brace from Richarlison 15 minutes from time resulted in a 2-0 defeat. Neither side tend to create opportunities and so I can’t see this being a high scoring game, more so considering Eintracht Frankfurt’s poor start to the season, which sees them in 11^th. The Velodrome will be a difficult place to visit, and Marseille will make it difficult – I think the hosts can win in a low-scoring fixture.

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FC Porto v Club Brugge

The winners of the past three league titles in Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League, Club Brugge find themselves third in the table after eight games, level on points with second-place Genk and five behind league leaders Royal Antwerp. Whilst they have sold attacking midfielder Charles De Ketelaere to Milan and center back Stanley N’Soki to Hoffenheim, Club Brugge have kept hold of Noa Lang amid interest from Milan, although Lang is unavailable for tomorrow’s match due to injury, whilst key players Clinton Mata and Tajon Buchanan are out as well. After beating Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 at home, Club Brugge will be looking to take their second Champions League victory against Porto. Speaking to a Belgian football expert, “There’s been a lot of change at Club over the past year. They’ve been able to ride it out by generally having the strongest squad in the league, but I don’t think they’ll get anything in Porto. They have brought in physically imposing players like Boyata, Larin, Yaremchuk, and they will probably win the league in Belgium again, but I don’t think they’ll get out their group.”

Porto’s first Champions League fixture would see them reduced to 10 men in the 81st minute as Mehdi Taremi picked up a second yellow, with Atlético Madrid breaking the deadlock in the 91st minute and conceding a penalty shortly after with Mateus Uribe evening proceedings from the spot. It seemed as though the two sides were headed for a draw until the final second of the match, when Antoine Griezmann headed home from a corner kick to snatch a 2-1 victory. Whilst Porto have bounced back with a 3-0 win against Chaves, they will be under no false impressions about the importance of this match. Last season saw Porto fail to advance out of their Champions League group for the first time since 2015/16 and failing to pick up three points at the Dragão against a weakened Club Brugge side would have drastic effects on their hopes of qualifying to the Round of 16. Despite missing Taremi due to suspension, Porto are spoiled for depth in attack with Evanilson and Toni Martínez set to form the striker duo whilst Galeno and Pepê will likely play on the flanks. There is more than enough firepower for Sérgio Conceição’s side to wreak havoc against a Club Brugge side that has failed to qualify to the Champions League knockout round in each of its last five attempts dating back to 2016/17, and I’m expecting the likes of Evanilson and Galeno to tear apart the Belgian defence and give Porto a comfortable victory in the Dragão that should feature more than 2.5 goals.

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