Champions League returns
October 21, 2014
The first two hurdles, Manchester City and CSKA Moscow, have already been overcome. Now, Germany's current league leaders Bayern Munich are in Italy to take on arguably the toughest opponent in their Champions League group, AS Roma.
While Bayern won both of their first two games in the Champions League with a narrow 1-0 margin, Roma smashed CSKA 5-1 on Matchday One, before drawing 1-1 with Manchester City away. It's clear to all involved that the match against Roma won't be as easy as Bayern's last two assignments in the Bundesliga where they won 4-0 and 6-0.
"This is just the sort of game that we need," says Bayern midfielder Arjen Robben. "It will be a great challenge, but I think we are ready."
Bayern's chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, believes that the coming two games against Roma (the return leg is on November 5) will be crucial if Bayern wants to progress to the Round of 16.
"It looks like AS Roma will be the toughest competition in our group," he said. "We need to make sure that we get enough points from these games, so that we can hold onto this great first place."
A special appointment
But, Roma are also in good form at the moment. On the weekend, at home against Verona, captain Francesco Totti and his team showed once again that they like to score as early as possible. Roma scored all three of their goals inside the first 33 minutes, before easily shepherding the win home. The team, who are currently sitting second in the Serie A, have scored most of their goals in the first half this season. In their easy win against Moscow in the first round Roma had taken the score to 4-0 in 31 minutes. Bayern will have to be vigilant from the start of the game.
Should they not manage the win on Tuesday evening in Rome's Olympic Stadium, Bayern's players can at least look forward to a treat on Wednesday when they go to the Vatican for an audience with the Pope. Pope Francis is known as a big football fan and the Bavarian club, says Rummenigge, is honored to have been granted the appointment.
Schalke under pressure
In contrast to Bayern and Roma, Bundesliga compatriots Schalke are struggling in Champions League Group G. After only managing a 1-1 draw in their last match against outsiders Maribor, the Royal Blues really need a win against Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday in Gelsenkirchen.
With the hosts on just two points in the group so far, and Lisbon with just one, Schalke's new coach Roberto Di Matteo knows this is a crucial game if the club wants to have any aspirations of success in Europe this season.
"We have to get as many points out of this game as possible," he said in Gelsenkirchen.
Di Matteo is likely to continue to focus on the team's defensive set up ahead of the game against Sporting. Benedikt Höwedes and Kaan Ayhan worked well together last Saturday against Hertha Berlin in the club's 2-0 Bundesliga win, and the team also has Joel Matip available for selection again, too.
Sporting, Portugal's third biggest club these days behind Benfica and Porto, will be hoping on the other hand to continue its good form in front of goal. The Portuguese, who last won a national championship back in 2002, managed a 4-0 win on the weekend against Penafiel. Portugal national player Nani and Algerian player Islam Slimani, who both scored against Penafiel, could again pose a danger for the hosts on Tuesday.
Head to www.dw.de/sports on Tuesday night for live Twitter coverage of the action in Rome and Gelsenkirchen. Our live blog will begin at 18:30 UTC.