A few teams already have the round of 16 in their sights as we move into the group stage finishing straight. Is there any club stopping Napoli and Club Brugge? And who will dust themselves off to exact swift revenge from Matchday 3?
The UEFA Champions League continues with 16 games spread across Tuesday and Wednesday.
We pick out some key talking points ahead of the fourth round of fixtures.
11 October
Group E: Dinamo Zagreb vs Salzburg, AC Milan vs Chelsea
Group F: Shakhtar vs Real Madrid, Celtic vs Leipzig
Group G: Copenhagen vs Man City, Dortmund vs Sevilla
Group H: Maccabi Haifa vs Juventus, Paris vs Benfica
12 October
Group A: Napoli vs Ajax, Rangers vs Liverpool
Group B: Atlético vs Club Brugge, Leverkusen vs Porto
Group C: Barcelona vs Inter, Plzeň vs Bayern
Group D: Tottenham vs Frankfurt, Sporting CP vs Marseille
What to look out for
Napoli’s goal glut
“Divine Napoli” cooed the Italian media following the Partenopei’s latest command performance. Falling behind for the first time in the group stage in Amsterdam, Luciano Spalletti’s side responded with a crackling display full of verve, panache and power, scoring six without reply to stun Ajax. In doing so they achieved the almost impossible: eclipsing their dismantling of Liverpool on Matchday 1. “It’s great to be living this but, as soon as this game is over, we need to think about the next game,” warned Spalletti. “We cannot stop.” With 13 goals already to their name, Napoli have Paris’ 2017/18 group stage record of 25 in their sights. And, more immediately, a place in the last 16.
Napoli are one of five sides with a 100% record at the halfway point. They have some predictable company – Bayern, Manchester City, Real Madrid – and one rather less expected: Club Brugge. The Belgian side are yet to concede and added the scalp of Atlético to Porto and Leverkusen on Matchday 3, meaning they could wrap up Group B with a repeat in Spain next time out. It will be a big game for their Catalan star Ferran Jutglà, who knows better than to expect a warm welcome from Diego Simeone. “We just missed precision [in Bruges], rued the Atleti coach. “But we’re not throwing in the towel. There are three matches left for us to turn things around.”
Bucking a trend
If revenge is a dish best served cold, then the back-to-back fixtures that fall in the middle of the group stage provide little chance to regroup, learn your lessons and go again. Last season, 11 of the victorious sides on Matchday 3 promptly picked up another win. Four teams settled for four points, with only Wolfsburg truly bucking the trend: dusting themselves off after a 3-1 loss at Salzburg to gain revenge on home turf. Who will be the outliers this time around? Barcelona will be confident they can locate their shooting boots at home to Inter, and after everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Sporting CP at Marseille, the Lions could come roaring back.
