From Paris Saint-Germain training at the Emirates Stadium, September 30, 2024 (Glen Kirk/Agence France-Presse)
Get ready fans soccerToday, Tuesday, the first batch of matches in the second round of the group stage begins UEFA Champions Leaguewhich carries within it strong confrontations and historical clashes, the most prominent of which is the match between the English club Arsenal and the French club Paris Saint-Germain. The Gunners enter this match with a distinguished record against Saint-Germain, as the club has not suffered a loss in the last four European confrontations between the two teams. The London team achieved one victory and a draw in three matches, while the French club is the team that has faced Arsenal the most in European competitions without being able to… Achieve any victory.
On the other hand, Paris Saint-Germain suffers from a bad record away from home against English clubs in the Champions League, as it lost its last three matches in English stadiums, including two defeats against Manchester City in 2021, and another against Newcastle last season, and the loss to Newcastle was by a score. 4-1 at St. James Park is the heaviest for the French team against an English opponent.
On the other hand, Arsenal has a strong record at home against French teams, as it achieved a crushing 6-0 victory over Lens in the previous round of last season, which is the largest victory for an English team over a French club in the history of the competition. From a tactical standpoint, the match will witness a Spanish confrontation between coaches, as Mikel Arteta will become the sixth Spanish coach to face Luis Enrique in the Champions League. Although Enrique won five of the last six matches against the Spaniards, each match has its own circumstances, and Arteta will try to break this series in favor of his team, even though his Arsenal team is finally suffering from an offensive decline in the Champions League, after failing to score any goal in the last two matches, Including a loss against Bayern Munich last season, and a goalless draw against Atalanta in the first match of this season.
The fans are also anticipating an exciting match between German Bayer Leverkusen and Italian Milan within the same framework, as it will be the first confrontation of its kind between the two teams in European competitions, given that they have never faced each other in any tournament before, although Leverkusen enters the match with a modest record against… Italian teams in the Champions League, as they faced Italian clubs on 12 occasions, and were only able to achieve two wins, while they were defeated in six confrontations and tied in four.
The German team also lost the last three matches, which puts it under great pressure to achieve a positive result in this anticipated confrontation. On the other hand, Milan has a good record against German teams in the Champions League, as it has lost only one of its last eight matches. However, the last loss was painful against Borussia Dortmund in November 2023, with a score of 1-3, which puts the Italian team in a position in which it needs to return to victories.
Bayer Leverkusen enters the match in high spirits, especially since it has not lost in the last nine European matches it played at home, achieving six wins and three draws, so it seeks to achieve its tenth victory in a row to enhance its strong record on its home field and continue its successful path this season. As for Milan, it will face a major challenge at Leverkusen Stadium, as it has not achieved a win in the opening match away from home in its last seven appearances in the Champions League, after suffering five draws and one defeat. Also, the last victory achieved by the Italian team outside its stadium in the opening round dates back to the season. 2012-2013 when he beat Zenit Saint Petersburg, Russia, 3-2.
For its part, the Spanish club Barcelona is preparing to face the Swiss team Young Boys, in a match that carries a historical character due to it being the first meeting between the two teams in European competitions, so coach Flick’s team is seeking to achieve victory and correct its course after the sudden loss to Monaco in the opening round, especially since it enjoys… With a strong record in his confrontations against Swiss teams, his last meeting with a Swiss team was in the 2008-2009 season when he faced FC Basel in the group stage, and achieved a great victory with a score of 5-0 away from home, and a 1-1 draw at home, which gives him the advantage. Psychologically before confronting Young Boys, who will try to achieve a surprise.
No team playing its first match against Barcelona in the Champions League since 2009 has been able to achieve victory. The last team to achieve this achievement was Russia’s Rubin Kazan, which beat Barcelona 2-1 in the group stage. Since then, 19 teams have failed to repeat this achievement. It tied with three teams and lost to 16 teams.
On the other hand, Young Boys are seeking to break their bad record in European tournaments away from home. The last victory achieved by the Swiss team in the Champions League was in August 1960, when they won 5-0 over Limerick, and since then the team has played 11 away matches in tournaments. European Championship, drawing three of them and losing eight matches. In the rest of the matches, the Austrian club Salzburg will host the French team Brest, the German club Stuttgart will also receive the Czech club Sparta Prague, while the Scottish club Celtic will travel to Germany to face Dortmund, and the Serbian Red Star Belgrade will travel to Italy to play with the Italian Inter Milan. The Dutch team, Eindhoven, will host the Portuguese team, Sporting Lisbon, while the Slovenian team, Slovan Bratislava, will face the English team, Manchester City.
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