(Football news) With all the league fixtures done all the focus will shift to the midweek Champions League fixtures. Barcelona face a must win match against Dynamo Kiev as nothing more than three points is required for them to qualify for the round of 16, Manchester United will hope to produce a clinical performance against Atalanta.
Manchester United face Atalanta at Bergamo in what is expected to be a humdinger of a match between two attacking sides. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer might have passed his first test but he needs to win his next two games to save his job. United will be hoping that they don’t repeat the same performance they had a few weeks ago against Atalanta at Old Trafford, although United won that match the performance was far from convincing and Atalanta are no strangers picking points against English oppositions. For United getting the victory is very important as only three points separate Manchester United and bottom placed Young Boys, meaning qualification is far from secured at the moment.
Gasperini in his press conference said, “We faced City and Liverpool when they were in a good period, established teams that were well organised for some time with their style of play, United seem to be a team in construction that still has some things to work out. But they have considerable potential. They might be jumping from a defeat to an impressive win, but that does not take anything away from their potential.Tomorrow will be a completely different game compared to our first meeting,”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in his press conference said “The next one is the one that matters and we’ve been working to get consistency and we know that when we get that consistency we will get results and performances, One swallow doesn’t make a summer and it’s important we keep focusing on what we did well in that game and improve on what we didn’t do as well. It is relentless with games every three days and it’s a chance against Atalanta to prove that we can go again”.
Bayern take on Benfica at the Allianz Arena, Julian Nagelsmann’s side will seek to assure a safe passage into the knockout stages with a victory over the Portuguese team. After their 5-0 loss against Monchengladbach, Bayern bounced back in emphatic fashion winning 5-2 against Union Berlin and will hope to continue the same form. Bayern will be without Leon Goretzka, Alphonso Davis and Lucas Hernandez, as for Benfica they will be without Haris Seferovic and Rodrigo Pinho for this all important champions league fixture. Robert Lewandowski will look to score in his fourth successive Champions league match as aims to reach 20 goals in the season already and also become the top scorer of the tournament.
Barcelona face a must win match against bottom placed team Dynamo Kiev, coming off a three-match winless streak in the Spanish league with an interim coach, Barcelona will head to Ukraine to face Dynamo Kyiv without two of their veterans because of health issues. Defender Gerard Piqué is nursing a right calf strain and striker Sergio Aguero is under observation after undergoing heart tests. The team is being coached by interim manager Sergi Barjuán after Ronald Koeman was fired last week. If Barcelona need to win their remaining matches to even stand a chance of qualification into the Knockout phase or else that will have to settle for Europa League.
The other fixtures to look out for are:
- Malmo vs Chelsea
- Wolfsburg vs RB Salzburg
- Villareal vs Young Boys
- Juventus vs Zenit
- Sevilla vs Lille
