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  Champions League: Real eye goal fest against Legia

Champions League: Real eye goal fest against Legia

AFP
Published : Oct 17, 2016, 11:16 pm IST
Updated : Oct 17, 2016, 11:16 pm IST

Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale (centre) practices with team mates at a training session in Madrid on Monday. The hosts meet Legia Warsaw in a Champions League Group F match on Tuesday. (Photo: AP )

Real Madrid.jpg
 Real Madrid.jpg

Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale (centre) practices with team mates at a training session in Madrid on Monday. The hosts meet Legia Warsaw in a Champions League Group F match on Tuesday. (Photo: AP )

Real Madrid go on the goal trail against minnows Legia Warsaw when they clash in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Given Legia, the first Polish qualifiers to this stage in 20 years, have already conceded eight goals in their first two group games, anything other than a Real avalanche would be a surprise.

Hosts Madrid warmed up for this match with a 6-1 thumping of Real Betis, who are probably a better side than Warsaw. Real coach Zinedine Zidane praised his side for playing with “intensity” on Saturday and a similar display would likely blow away a Legia side that was thumped 6-0 at home to Dortmund.

Tottenham’s surprise home defeat to Monaco on the opening day has put a spanner in the works in this group, putting both the English side and Leverkusen under pressure coming into their home-and-away series. Spurs bounced back with a win in Moscow over CSKA and are the only remaining unbeaten side in the Premier League. Leverkusen, on the other hand, have had a difficult start to the Bundesliga season and sit in the bottom half. They also drew their first two pool matches.

Before the season began, these two would have been considered the group favourites but neither can afford to fail to pick up at least a win in these back-to-back encounters or they risk leaving themselves with too much to do in the final two fixtures. Monaco will seek to build on their opening 2-1 victory over Tottenham when they travel to Moscow to tackle CSKA, who sit third in the Russian Premier League after a 1-0 win over Ufa at the weekend. Monaco dropped to third in Ligue 1, falling four points behind Nice after losing 3-1 at Toulouse on Friday night, while the leaders beat Lyon 2-0. CSKA are bottom of the group and need a win, while one suspects pool leaders Monaco would be happy to go home with a point. Leicester’s season is developing a Jekyll and Hyde quality to it — struggling to defend their shock Premier League crown but flying high in Europe. Claudio Ranieri’s men host Copenhagen top of the group with a perfect six points, a far cry from their domestic form, their four defeats already one more than they suffered over the whole of last season. Their Danish guests are placed second, two points adrift, so a third straight win for the Foxes would bring a ticket to the knockout stage in their first ever Champions League campaign significantly closer. Leicester will have to bounce back from a 3-0 loss to Chelsea at the weekend. Ranieri rested last season’s player of the year Riyad Mahrez, one of three key players, for Tuesday.

At Lyon, Juventus are setting the pace in the Serie A title race, their 2-1 win — Paulo Dybala scoring both goals — over Udinese on Saturday placing them five points clear of Roma. Coach Massimiliano Allegri, who guided Juve to the 2015 final, cut a frustrated figure the last time out after a goalless draw with Sevilla as he tries to plot his team’s path to a first Champions League crown in 20 years. Juve followed that draw with a 4-0 win at Dinamo to lead the table. The teams last met in the 2013/14 Europea League quarter-final, the Italians winning both legs.

Location: France, Île-de-France, Paris