UCL: Potter’s Chelsea face Salzburg while Man City take on Dortmund

(Football news) Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund will both look to continue their perfect starts to the Champions League season. All the headlines will be around Erling Haaland whose goalscoring capabilities in the Premier League may have been questioned before his arrival but all such concerns have since been quashed. City are now unbeaten in all competitions and have subsequently scored at least three goals in each of their four home encounters as they have racked up 17 goals in total. Guardiola will also take charge of his 150th game in the Champions League.

For the ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager his painful wait for a European honour continues but his side now have the chance to extend their unbeaten home run to 21 Champions League games this week. Dortmund on the other hand travel to England on the back of a painful away-day defeat to RB Leipzig as it ended a run of three consecutive wins and three consecutive clean sheets for the Black and Yellow. The only positive for the Dortmund fans was the impact of a certain Giovanni Reyna who was making a comeback after a serious injury which he sustained last year. The Bundesliga side haven't drawn on their travels in the Champions League, they have won seven and lost 10 games in the past five years but last season they fell to a 4-2 aggregate defeat against Man City in the 2020-21 quarter-finals

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Ederson; Cancelo, Dias, Akanji, Gomez; Silva, Rodri, De Bruyne; Foden, Haaland, Grealish

Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:

Meyer; Meunier, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro; Ozcan, Bellingham; Brandt, Reus, Reyna; Modeste

Chelsea take on Red Bull Salzburg in Graham Potter’s first match in charge. Having spent  around £250m on several new signings this summer transfer window, one thing is clear that Boehly does not lack ambition and he will hope Potter can work his magic on a very talented group of players. The 47-year-old was on an impressive run as he gained 13 points in Brighton's six matches this season, having guided the Seagulls to their highest-ever top flight finish by finishing ninth last season. However, Wednesday's visit of Salzburg will be Potter's first ever taste of Champions League football, illustrating how quickly he must adapt to the step up in class.

With several reports suggesting that Boehly tried to persuade Tuchel to switch to a 4-3-3 formation, it will be interesting to see if the Englishman sticks with the three-man defence which brought him success at Brighton, especially when the majority of his new group are also used to playing three at the back. One aspect of weakness for Chelsea is that they lack an out-and-out goalscorer. It remains to be seen which player Potter favours in the central role; with the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Kai Havertz, Raheem Sterling and Armando Broja to select from as he is clearly not lacking options up front. 

Chelsea possible starting lineup:

Mendy; Fofana, Silva, Koulibaly; James, Jorginho, Kovacic, Cucurella; Mount, Havertz, Sterling

Red Bull Salzburg possible starting lineup:

Kohn; Dedic, Pavlovic, Ulmer, Bernardo; Capaldo, Seiwald, Kjaergaard; Kameri; Sesko, Okafor

Also read: UCL: Inter Milan get a comfortable victory over Viktoria Plzen
 

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