Geneva, Dec 8: A Champions League clash between Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland will surely happen in the final one day.
On Wednesday, it is a routine league-phase game when Real Madrid hosts Manchester City and the most feared forwards in soccer cross paths for the third time in the competition since Haaland debuted in 2019.
Also this week, Liverpool brings its season of turmoil to San Siro against Inter Milan on Tuesday, when Bayern Munich hosts Sporting Lisbon. Paris Saint-Germain is at Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.
In the sixth of the eight rounds, league-leading Arsenal can become the first team to reach the 16-point total that last season ensured advancing direct to the round of 16.Arsenal is the only team with five straight wins on 15 points and needs to avoid defeat Tuesday at Club Brugge to reach the potential cutoff between eighth and ninth place in January.
Tuesday at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium likely won’t be the last time they meet this season.
France will play Norway on June 26 at the New England Patriots’ stadium in Foxborough, Mass., in one of the most anticipated games from the World Cup draw made Friday.There might also be more in the Champions League given that Real Madrid and Manchester City met in the knockout rounds in each of the past four seasons. They combined to win three titles in that time though Mbappé still seeks his first.Mbappé vs. Haaland first happened in the round of 16 in February 2020. Newly arrived at Borussia Dortmund, Haaland scored two in the first leg against Paris Saint-Germain and revealed his “Zen” goal celebration, sitting down cross-legged as if meditating. Mbappé and PSG won in Paris to advance 3-2 on aggregate score.
Last season, in the knockout playoffs in February, Mbappé scored four times including a hat trick in the second leg as Madrid beat Man City in both games, despite Haaland’s two goals in the first leg.Mbappé’s four goals at Olympiakos last month lifted him to be top scorer in the Champions League this season. He needs one more to reach 10 in a Champions League season for the first time during his decade in the competition.
Haaland has five so far, and already got into double figures in three Champions League campaigns. Madrid starts the week in fifth place on 12 points, two ahead of City in ninth in the 36-team standings.Harry Kane is just as prolific for Bayern Munich this season. He has scored 28 in just 22 games for Bayern plus five in five World Cup qualifiers for England.
Kane has kept pace with Haaland’s goal-a-game ratio in the Champions League and kept Bayern third in the standings, despite losing at Arsenal two weeks ago.
Ahead of Kane and Haaland is six-goal Victor Osimhen, who is fit to return with Galatasaray at Monaco on Tuesday. Both teams are in contention for a top-24 finish and places in the knockout stage starting in February. (AP)
