Champions League: Mighty Bayern await Arsenal

Barcelona can take a big step towards the last 16 of the Champions League for a 12th consecutive season when they travel to face BATE Borisov in the cold of Belarus on Tuesday.

Reigning European champions Barcelona are widely expected to see off BATE but should be wary of opponents who beat Roma 3-2 at home in their last Group E game.

BATE secured their 10th consecutive Belarusian title on Friday with a 2-0 win at FC Vitebsk giving them an unassailable 10-point lead from nearest rivals Dinamo Minsk with three games to go. Barcelona, meanwhile, travel fresh from beating Rayo Vallecano 5-2 on Saturday as Neymar scored four goals and Luis Suarez once.

Meanwhile, defeats against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos in their first two Group F games have left Arsenal in urgent need of a win, but now they face a daunting double confrontation against Bayern, who are surely the best team in Europe on current form. At least Arsenal warmed up by winning 3-0 at Watford on Saturday, their third straight victory in the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola’s side also became the first club in the history of the Bundesliga to win their first nine matches of a season when they edged out Werder Bremen 1-0 on Saturday. At Zagreb

Arsenal’s poor start has opened up the group and given Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos hope of progressing to the last 16. Both sides have already beaten the Gunners and lost to Bayern ahead of their clash at the Stadion Maksimir in the Croatian capital.

The last time Olympiakos went to Zagreb, they drew 1-1 to seal qualification for the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first, and so far only, time in their history.

Marco Silva’s Greek champions are in good form just now, too, with an impressive 4-0 win at home to AEK Athens on Saturday, featuring two late goals by talented midfielder Kostas Fortounis, their seventh win out of seven in their domestic league. Dinamo, meanwhile, beat NK Zagreb 4-1 on Friday and are top of the Croatian league.

They have lost just one of their last 48 games altogether — the 5-0 defeat at Bayern last month.

Jose Mourinho’s erratic Chelsea team go to Ukraine knowing defeat would seriously complicate their chances of progressing from Group G.

Chelsea eased some of the pressure on Mourinho by beating Aston Villa 2-0 in the Premier League on Saturday, but go into Tuesday’s game on the back of a 2-1 defeat at his former club Porto in their previous group match.

The Ukrainian champions have taken four points from their first two games but are coming off the back of a 3-0 defeat at home to great rivals Shakhtar Donetsk on Friday, their first defeat since losing to the same opponents in the domestic Super Cup in July.

After a slow start to the season, Valencia appear to have found form ahead of their home meeting with Gent at the Mestalla. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side won 1-0 at Lyon three weeks ago. And they warmed up for this game with a 3-0 win against Malaga on Saturday that featured a goal from talented Portuguese midfielder Andre Gomes. Gent, who are again without the suspended Brecht Dejaegere, have lost just once this season, at Zenit late last month.