The Champions League resumes on Tuesday with Manchester City and Liverpool travelling outside England to continue their European campaigns, and if you are looking for live football on TV today to watch, these two games are the best ones to catch.
The defending Premier League champions head to the Jan Breydel Stadion to take on the Group A surprise package Club Brugge, while Liverpool face Atletico Madrid in a blockbuster clash in Spain.
Manchester City seek redemption following PSG fiasco
Manchester City got their Champions League campaign off to a flying start, courtesy of an overwhelming 6-3 victory over RB Leipzig at the Etihad Stadium.
However, City’s early hype suffered an epic setback on Matchday 2 as Pep Guardiola’s side fell to a 2-0 loss against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes.
An eye-catching showdown, highlighted by Lionel Messi’s inaugural goal for PSG, inflicted the first Champions League defeat on Man City on foreign soil since August 2020.
Barring that 3-1 reverse against Lyon in neutral Portugal in the competition’s quarter-finals, the Cityzens last lost an away Champions League game in April 2019, succumbing to a 1-0 loss to Tottenham.
Guardiola has lost back-to-back away fixtures in Europe’s most prestigious club competition just once during his illustrious managerial career.
Although Club Brugge held PSG to an unexpected 1-1 draw in their group stage opener and went on to beat Leipzig 2-1 on hostile turf last time out, their underdog status in this encounter is justified.
The Belgians have failed to win any of their last 12 European match-ups against English opponents (D3, L9) since outplaying Chelsea 1-0 in the Cup Winners’ Cup in February 1995.
This is a prime opportunity for Man City to improve their recent disappointing defensive record in the Champions League.
Since going seven straight Champions League matches without conceding, the reigning Premier League champions have kept just a single clean sheet across their last seven outings in the competition.
With one point separating the top three sides in this group going into this matchday, a victory here could prove decisive to City’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage for the ninth season running.
Liverpool face formidable challenge at Wanda Metropolitano
Liverpool have gone from strength to strength at the start of this Champions League campaign to take early control of the proceedings in Group B.
After pulling off a stunning second-half comeback to beat AC Milan 3-2 at Anfield in their group stage curtain-raiser, Jurgen Klopp’s men thrashed Porto 5-1 at the Estadio do Dragao on Matchday 2.
Although they take this trip to the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano as the competition’s joint-most prolific attack with eight goals, Liverpool’s scoring prowess will face a stern test in the shape of Atletico Madrid as previewed by Football Today and other football news sites.
Despite being held to an uneventful goalless home draw to Porto in their Group B opener, Diego Simeone’s side picked themselves up to pick up a 2-1 comeback win over Milan last time out.
However, the stalemate with Porto extended Atletico’s winless Champions League run at home to four matches (D3, L1), which is their joint-longest streak without a home victory in the competition.
The reigning La Liga holders can draw confidence from their solid European home record against Liverpool, having avoided defeat in all three such match-ups to date (W2, D1).
Additionally, the Reds have failed to get on the scoresheet in both previous European visits to Madrid, falling to identical 1-0 defeats on each occasion.
With Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane scoring at will this season, Klopp’s men will be confident of ending their goal drought in the Spanish capital on Tuesday.
The star duo issued a warning to Simone’s watertight defence by racking up 16 goals across all competitions between them this term.
It is worth noting that since beating Real Madrid in the 2008/09 Champions League last-16 tie, the Merseyside heavyweights have gone winless in their subsequent seven visits to the Iberian country (D1, L6).
Inspired by a 5-0 thumping victory over Watford in the Premier League over the weekend, Liverpool will fancy their chances against a fresh Atletico side.
Having had their La Liga fixture postponed at the weekend, the Spaniards return from the international break and run straight into Champions League action.
Liverpool will be hopeful of catching their hosts off guard as they look to solidify their place at the top of Group B.
