It’s the best in Spain against German football royalty in the latest round of games in the Champions League.
A rematch of last season’s final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund is the headliner on Tuesday, before Barcelona host Bayern Munich on Wednesday in the next chapter of what has been a fairly one-sided rivalry in Europe’s top club competition.
All four teams have been European champions inside the last 30 years and they’ve made mixed starts to this season’s revamped format.
Dortmund have won both of their opening matches — 3-0 at Club Brugge and 7-1 at home to Celtic — to be the early leaders and top scorer of the league stage, which sees all 36 teams play eight matches: four at home and four away.
Just like last season when reaching the Champions League final against the odds before losing to Madrid, Dortmund have been far more impressive in Europe than in the Bundesliga. Indeed, after thrashing Celtic, Dortmund lost at Union Berlin four days later.
Madrid, meanwhile, are coming off a surprising 1-0 loss at Lille, the defending champions’ first defeat in the competition since the semi-finals in the 2022-23 season.
Message for Mbappe
Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe should prioritise scoring over pressing to support the team, manager Carlo Ancelotti said on Monday as he backed Jude Bellingham amid his goalless campaign.
Mbappe has eight goals for Madrid from 12 games in all competitions this season, while Bellingham has yet to find the net in nine outings.
“I want Mbappe to score goals, I prefer he scores rather than pressing. The centre forward’s role hasn’t changed, I ask the same of him that I asked of (former Real striker) Karim Benzema,” Ancelotti told reporters on Monday.
“Mbappe needs to position himself well and be smart every time we recover the ball to make a quick transition.”
England midfielder Bellingham was phenomenal for Real last season, when they did not have Mbappe, scoring 23 goals with 13 assists in 42 appearances in all competitions.
“We are satisfied with Bellingham’s work. He works hard on the field, competes, fights, and makes sacrifices. He hasn’t scored like last year but that was unexpected,” Ancelotti said. “We’ve always managed to score and will continue to because we have a lot of talent up front. Bellingham’s role is more important than the goals he scored last year.”
Bellingham started last season as a key figure in the centre of Madrid’s attack, scoring 10 goals in his first 10 games across La Liga and the Champions League.
Thrust into the position after Benzema departed with Madrid still waiting for Mbappe to arrive, Bellingham thrived.
After nine games this season in all competitions, Bellingham is yet to find the net.
Ancelotti used the hard-working Bellingham on the right of midfield in the 2-1 La Liga win at Celta Vigo on Saturday, another new role for the $112 million man.
During the win over Celta, Bellingham appeared furious with Brazilian team-mate Vinicius Junior after the forward did not pass him the ball when he was well placed to score and instead lashed over.
Arsenal focused
Arsenal will use the hurt from their first English Premier League defeat of the season to deliver a strong response in their home clash against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk, manager Mikel Arteta said on Monday.
Arteta’s side host Shakhtar on Tuesday following a goalless draw in their opener at Atalanta and a 2-0 home victory over PSG, leaving them 13th in the new format with four points from two games.
The dismissal of William Saliba at Bournemouth marked Arsenal’s third red card in eight league matches, following earlier dismissals for Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard. Each time Arsenal have gone down to 10 men, they have dropped points.
“We cannot continue to play with 10 men, easier to say it then to get it done in the specific moment,” Arteta told reporters.
With inputs from AP, Reuters