Club Brugge v Galatasaray and Olympiakos v Tottenham

Club Brugge v Galatasaray
Wednesday 18 September, 7:55

Group A contains two giants of modern European football in PSG and Real Madrid. Club Brugge and Galatasaray, will give an early indication as to which team will finish third in the group.

Club Brugge have shown the most consistent form so far this season. They have yet to lose in either their fledgling First Division A campaign or in the qualifying rounds to reach the group stage. Club Brugge knocked out Dynamo Kiev and LASK to book their place in Group A.

Galatasaray tasted defeat in their first game of the season against Denizlispor, before building a run of three unbeaten matches. Having won the Turkish title last season, Gala automatically qualified for the group stage of the competition. Galatasaray have signed a large number of new players this summer, there are some notable names such as Steven Nzonzi, Jean Michael Seri, Ryan Babel and Radamel Falcao.

Olympiakos v Tottenham
Wednesday September 18, 7:55
Olympiakos are in the midst of their most barren stretch of domestic success since 1996 where the Piraeus club picked up 17 Super League titles in 19 seasons.

The 2019 Super League runners-up secured vital eye-catching two-legged aggregate victories over Viktoria Plzen (4-0), Istanbul Basaksehir (3-0) and Krasnodar (6-1) to secure their spot in the group-stages.

Summer signing Youssef El Arabi scored crucial away goals at Krasnodar although skipper and key midfielder Kostas Fortounis will be absent with a long-term knee injury. This void will therefore be filled by diminutive French playmaker Mathieu Valbuena with Daniel Podence.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said his side’s “amazing” performance in Saturday’s 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace is the “first step” towards rediscovering the consistency of last season.

Olympiakos and Tottenham are locking horns for the first time since their UEFA Cup duels way back in 1972.

Olympiakos are back in the group-stage of the Champions League for the first time since 2017 but have only reached the knockout stage of Europe’s premier club competition on three occasions this century.

Tottenham produced victory on the road twice in three knockout matches en-route to the final. The 1-0 success at Dortmund back in March is alarmingly the club’s only win on their travels across all competitions since mid-January.