Real Madrid will try to leave behind the 4-0 thrashing they faced from El Clasico rivals Barcelona when they resume their Uefa Champions League campaign with a face-off against Serie A heavyweights AC Milan on Tuesday.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side has garnered six points from their three Champions League outings this season to stand 12th in the table, while Milan have picked up three points from their first three games to languish in 25th position.

Los Blancos should be well rested heading into their European clash as their La Liga match against Valencia, which was due to take place over the weekend, was postponed due to the catastrophic floods in Spain.

Madrid, thus, have not taken the field since their 0-4 loss to Barcelona on October 26. Ancelotti’s team have trounced VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League this season, but lost in Lille last month and are currently one point behind eighth-placed Sporting Lisbon.

Meanwhile, Paulo Fonseca’s Milan will enter this game with a 1-0 win over Monza behind them, with the team rallying from a 0-2 home loss to Napoli at the end of October. Milan have picked up 17 points from their first 10 matches of the Serie A campaign, which has left them in seventh spot in the table.

Fonseca downplayed the significance of the Madrid clash. Despite their narrow victory against lowly Monza, Fonseca did not think his team would be overawed at the prospect of facing Madrid.

“I am always fired up for every game and do not think that Real Madrid is any more important than what we played tonight (Saturday),” Fonseca told Sky Sports Italia.

“I strongly believe in teamwork. Nowadays, football is challenging; we need to function as a team at all times, and that’s what we’re striving to achieve.”

Substitute Rafael Leao entered the match against Monza late and came close to scoring twice in the closing stages. “He came on well, it is important to have this reaction from Rafa (Leao) and that’s what I want to see. I think he is ready to play in Madrid,” Fonseca said.

Defender Youssouf Fofana echoed his coach’s sentiments regarding Real.

“On Tuesday, we face Real, but it doesn’t matter if it’s Real Madrid or any other team; we need points to improve our position in the standings. I hope it will be a great night for all of us,” he told DAZN.

The first Champions League team will reach 10 points this week and likely ensure advancing to the knockout stage as the untested 36-team standings format reaches the midway point.

Either Liverpool or Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen will have 10 points after they meet at Anfield on Tuesday, when Manchester City also can do it by winning at Sporting Lisbon that is still being coached by Ruben Amorim until he joins Manchester United one week later.

English teams hold the top three places in the table, with recent European champions Manchester City and Liverpool looking up at surprise leaders Aston Villa.

Villa, the 1982 European Cup winner, goes for a fourth straight win on Wednesday at Club Brugge.

The new format sends only the top eight teams directly to the round of 16 in January. Teams that finish at 9-16 are seeded in the knockout playoffs round in February against teams ranked 17th to 24th. Winners of those two-leg encounters advance to the round of 16 in March.

Uefa’s pre-season simulations suggested as few as eight points from eight games would be enough to enter the knockout phase.

Still, upset losses so far for Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern showed how predictions can be upended.

Alonso could have been in the home team dugout on Tuesday. Liverpool offered their former star midfielder, a Champions League winner in the epic 2005 final, the chance to succeed Juergen Klopp this season.

Alonso opted to stay at Leverkusen and take the unbeaten Bundesliga champions into the Champions League. Liverpool turned to Feyenoord’s Arne Slot who is having a historically good start with the Premier League leaders.

Amorim is working against Manchester City on Tuesday just weeks after he was linked with being the club’s next coach.