Madrid and Liverpool Seek Flawless Champions League Starts
Real Madrid visits AEK Athens and Liverpool travels to Fenerbahce Wednesday as both clubs look to keep their undefeated records intact.
By Ana Castro ·
Two European giants enter Wednesday's matches without a single loss.
Real Madrid and Liverpool aim to extend their perfect starts in the Champions League. Madrid, the 15-time European champion, travels to Greece to face AEK Athens. Liverpool, the six-time winner, heads to Turkey to play Fenerbahce.
Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé arrives in peak condition. He has scored 15 goals in 14 appearances this season, including seven in his last five games. The France international has found the net in each of his last five Champions League outings. Teammate Jude Bellingham stands on the brink of a historic milestone. At 23 years and 128 days old, he is close to becoming the youngest player to reach 60 appearances in the competition. He would surpass the previous record set by Iker Casillas, who was 23 years and 167 days old when he reached that mark. Bellingham already holds the record for the youngest player to make 50 appearances.
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola views Sunday's Premier League defeat as a learning opportunity. The Merseyside club lost 1-0 at home to Arsenal. Iraola believes the team can find positives in that loss. "It’s difficult when you lose. But, honestly, I’m happy with a lot of things from the other day," Iraola said. "Still, we need to improve, especially attacking the box."
Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho keeps his focus on the immediate task. He has won the title with Porto and Inter Milan. "It would be the third with three different clubs, and this one with the biggest club in the world. But we are talking about hypothetical situations and I prefer real ones," Mourinho said. "The reality is that we still need points to qualify. Until we are qualified, I don’t like talking about the round of 16."
Manchester City faces its own challenges. Coach Enzo Maresca urged his players to reduce costly errors after back-to-back Premier League losses. City fell to Aston Villa and Brighton in recent weeks. "Unfortunately it is happening for our players, but I think it is part of the game, part of football. In the last two or three games it has happened many times against us," Maresca said. "We need to analyze and understand what we can do better and try to move on. For sure we are not happy. The players, me, the coaching staff, the club."
Other results set the stage for Wednesday's fixtures. Paris Saint-Germain became the fastest team to score four goals in Champions League history. They reached a 4-0 lead in 17 minutes against Villarreal before winning 6-0 on Tuesday. Manchester United staged a comeback to beat Roma 3-2 after falling behind. Barcelona defeated Aston Villa 3-0, and Bayern Munich won 2-0 at Atletico Madrid. Last season's runner-up Arsenal visits Slavia Prague, while Manchester City plays away at RB Leipzig.
