A battle between Senegal teammates Kalidou Koulibaly and Sadio Mane will headline the second Matchday of the UEFA Champions League’s group stage, set to be played on 2-3 October.
Napoli will play host to Liverpool in a Group C clash at Stadio San Paolo tonight, with the tussle between Koulibaly and Mane set to be a key factor in deciding the outcome. The game is also likely to feature Egyptian superstar Mohamed Salah, and Guinean midfielders Amadou Diawara and Naby Keita.
Matchday Two was underway early yesterday with evening with Hoffenheim lost as host to Manchester City, while Swiss side Young Boys failed to withstand 0-3 loss Juventus who were without suspended Cristiano Ronaldo.
The night games feature a tough outing for Moroccans Hakim Ziyech and Noussair Mazraoui, as their Ajax team heads to Germany for a battle with Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, while Ivorian Maxwel Cornet will look to get on the score sheet against when Olympique Lyon play host to Shakhtar Donetsk.
CSKA Moscow against all odds pipped the defendingChampions Real Madrid while Manchester United were unimpressive after a goalless outing at home to Valencia at Old Trafford. Roma came back from 0-3 loss on match day one against Real Madrid to win 5-0 at home to Viktoria Plzen.
Today’s early kick-offs see Ghana striker Richmond Boakye leading the line for Red Star in their trip to Paris Saint-Germain, and Brian Idowu’s Lokomotiv Moscow are at home to a Schalke 04 side which can call on Baba Rahman, Hamza Mendyl, Salif Sane, Amine Harit and Nabil Bentaleb.
Other Africans set to see action this evening night include Nigerian Emmanuel Dennis in Club Brugge’s tough trip to face Thomas Partey’s Atletico Madrid; Jean Aholou will feature in midfield for Monaco as they take on Borussia Dortmund at Signal-Iduna Park; and Serge Aurier and Victor Wanyama will hope to feature for Tottenham Hotspur in their high-profile clash at Wembley against Barcelona.
Kwadwo Asamoah and Keita Balde will look to guide Internazionale to a second win when they face PSV in Eindhoven, and the Porto v Galatasaray clash should see plenty of African stars on show, including the likes of Yacine Brahimi, Vincent Aboukabar, Henry Onyekuru and Badou N’Diaye.
UCL RESULTS
AEK 2-3 Benfica
Bayern 1-1 Ajax
Hoffenheim 1-2 Man City
Lyon 2-2 Shakhtar
CSKA 1-0 Madrid
Roma 5-0 Plzen
Juventus 3-0 Young Boys
Man Utd 0-0 Valencia
TONIGHT
Atletico Vs Brugge
Dortmund Vs Monaco
PSV Vs Inter
Tottenham Vs Barca
PSG Vs Zvezda
Napoli Vs Liverpool
Lokomotiv Vs Schalke
Porto Vs Galatasaray
