A European Classico is awaited between Real Madrid and Juventus in the Champions League | sports

On Wednesday, the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium will host a classic evening between Spanish Real Madrid, the record holder with the number of titles (15), and its Italian guest, Juventus, in the third round of the unified group stage of the European Champions League, while Liverpool’s Dutch coach, Arne Slot, will be under great pressure in Frankfurt.

In the Spanish capital, the date between Real and Juventus is renewed in the main continental competition, in a confrontation that brings to mind many great meetings between the two teams, most notably:

• The 1998 final, when the Royal Club won its first title since 1966 thanks to a goal by Montenegrin (currently) Predrag Mijatović.
• The 2017 final, when he won the 12th title with a great victory 4-1 thanks to a brace by Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo.

Juventus’s last visit to the Santiago Bernabeu carries painful memories, as it was considered that English referee Michael Oliver was unfair to him when he awarded Real a penalty kick in stoppage time, with which Ronaldo reduced the difference to 1-3 and gave his team a pass to the semi-finals.

The Spanish team won the first leg in Turin 3-0, including the amazing acrobatic goal scored by Ronaldo, which prompted the fans of the Turin giants to applaud him for a long time.

This was the last confrontation between the two teams in the Champions League, but they met last July in the eighth final of the Club World Cup in its new look, and Real emerged victorious with a goal by Goncalo Garcia.

Alonso and Theodore

“Al-Royal” appears to be a candidate to determine its victory over “Bianconeri” on Wednesday and raise its score to 9 points in 3 matches, after starting the journey towards its sixteenth title by defeating French club Marseille 2-1 and then Kairat of Kazakhstan 5-0, in addition to topping the local league by winning 8 of its 9 matches so far.

On the other hand, Juventus’ Croatian coach Igor Todor is facing great pressure after his team failed to achieve any wins in its last six matches, including two in the Champions League, during which it tied with Germany’s Borussia Dortmund 4-4 and Spain’s Villarreal 2-2.

Juventus enters the Madrid match with completely shaky morale after suffering its first defeat in the league on Sunday, which came at the hands of its host Como 0-2.

The Croatian realizes that the journey may not be long with the Turin giant if this series continues, saying, “I am always worried. This is the life of a coach. I always think about what you can improve and we will talk about this in the locker room.”

It is true that Real won at the weekend, but it suffered twice to overcome its host Getafe with a goal scored by Frenchman Kylian Mbappe 10 minutes before the end of a match that the home team completed with nine players.
But his coach, Xabi Alonso, saw positives in this match, saying, “The team faced the match with courage and succeeded in adapting to the situation. The players focused and did what they had to do. We face next week with positive energy.”

Slot in difficult mode

At Deutsche Bank Park, Slot will be under the microscope when his team, Liverpool, is a guest at Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany, with talk starting about the necessity of adopting a different approach in the “Reds” matches, and perhaps resorting to keeping the Egyptian star Mohamed Salah on the bench due to his declining performance, coinciding with the failure of the new arrivals, the Swede Alexander Isak and the German Florian Wirtz, to advance. To the level of expectations.

Liverpool arrives in Frankfurt on the back of four consecutive defeats, in a series that began against Crystal Palace in the league (1-2), passing by Galatasaray in Turkey in the Champions League (0-1), before falling again in the Premier League against Chelsea (1-2) and then at home against its rival Manchester United (1-2).

This is the first time since 2014 that Liverpool has suffered 4 consecutive defeats in various competitions, which makes Slot required to win on Wednesday in Frankfurt, especially since the next confrontation in the continental competition will be against Real Madrid.

Wednesday’s match will be special for Frenchman Ugo Equité, as he returns to the stadium of the team he left this summer in order to join Liverpool, which will try to exploit its host’s difficult situation (one win in the last five matches) in order to achieve its second victory, after the first over Spain’s Atletico Madrid (3-2).

At the Allianz Arena, the Bavarian giant, Bayern Munich, appears to be a strong candidate to overcome its Belgian guest, Brugge, and raise the number of its consecutive victories to 12 since the beginning of the season, in a series that began with the local Super Cup match, when it beat Stuttgart 2-1, then passed by beating Chelsea 3-1 and Paphos of Cyprus 5-1 in the Champions League, all the way to its victory in the local league on Saturday over its rival. Borussia Dortmund 2-1.

In other most prominent confrontations, Chelsea will meet its Dutch host Ajax, searching for its second victory, while French Monaco will play its English guest Tottenham, the Europa League champions, Italian Atalanta will play its Czech guest Slavia Prague, and French club Marseille will play its Portuguese host Sporting.

Today’s matches in the Champions League:

• Kairat (Kazakhstan) – Paphos (Cyprus)
• Barcelona (Spain) – Olympiacos (Greece)
• Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) – Paris Saint-Germain (France)
• Copenhagen (Denmark) – Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
• Villarreal (Spain) – Manchester City (England)
• Eindhoven (Netherlands) – Naples (Italy)
• Saint-Geloise (Belgium) – Inter (Italy)
• Arsenal (England) – Atletico Madrid (Spain)
• Newcastle United (England) – Benfica (Portugal)