The on-going Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba saga
It is literally impossible to pick up a newspaper in England right now and not be confronted with headlines about Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba.
The high-profile spat between the two Manchester United stars has dominated the football conversation in England over the last week, and with United hosting Valencia in the Champions League this Tuesday night, it seems unlikely it is going to go away anytime soon.
United’s horrendous start to the season continued this weekend, with the former Premier League champions falling to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of West Ham United, and fans will be hoping that the team can put their problems behind them for tomorrow’s clash.
United’s first victory in the Champions League, a 3-0 win away at Young Boys, was inspired by Paul Pogba, and they will no doubt be relying heavily on him against a much stronger Valencia side on Tuesday night.
Will the Frenchmen be able to keep his composure on Tuesday night and help guide United to another victory, or will the off-field distractions lead to yet another defeat for the Manchester club?
Can Manchester City bounce back?
On paper, Manchester City should comfortably defeat German side, Hoffenheim, on Tuesday night.
The Bundesliga side are in their maiden season in the Champions League and they have not exactly started their domestic league campaign strongly. They currently sit 12th in the Bundesliga and lost at home 2-1 to RB Leipzig this past Saturday.
Manchester City, on the other hand, are flying high in the Premier League, having defeated Brighton 2-0 at the weekend to take back top spot in the division.
Regardless of league form though, Manchester City have famously struggled in Europe in recent years, and their opening game defeat to Lyon could have set a precedent for the rest of the campaign.
With one eye on this weekend’s clash away at Liverpool, is there a chance City could take their eye off the ball and end up suffering a second straight loss in this year’s Champions League?
Do Tottenham have what it takes to topple Barcelona?
Tottenham’s first game in the Champions League ended in disaster when Inter Milan stunned the London club with a late comeback in Italy.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men are one of the four teams that make up Group B, which has been labelled by many pundits as this year’s ‘group of death’.
Two consecutive defeats in the group could find Spurs playing catch-up, especially if Inter Milan can pick up another victory away at PSV Eindhoven.
Unfortunately for Tottenham, their second group game is against reigning La Liga champions, Barcelona. Barca looked incredibly comfortable in their first game, defeating PSV 4-0 at home, and given Spurs’ inconsistent form so far this season, things aren’t looking too good for the North London club.
That being said, Barcelona aren’t in the best form themselves at the moment, with the Catalan giants failing to win any of their last three La Liga games.
Spurs showed that they could compete with the best in Europe last season when they topped Real Madrid 3-1 at Wembley, could we see a repeat of that scoreline on Wednesday?