Chelsea’s chances of successfully defending their UEFA Champions League crown will be given a stiff early examination when they take on Italian champions Juventus at Stamford Bridge in London today.
Roberto di Matteo’s men host the Serie A title-holders four months to the day after winning the trophy in a dramatic penalty shootout against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, and they would appear to come into the Group E game in great nick.
However, Di Matteo knows the rest of the continent will up their game every time they play the defending champions.
“Every opposition is going to play with extra motivation, playing against the holders of the Champions League. So it makes our lives more difficult,” the Italian said. “I’m aware no team has defended the trophy and I’m not surprised because it’s such a difficult competition to win. To win it twice in a row has proven impossible so far, because it’s so competitive.”
Juve are making their first appearance in the competition in three years, but they have not lost a Serie A match since the start of last season.
Chelsea, who could only manage a goalless draw at local rivals Queens Park Rangers in the English Premier League on Saturday, should be able to call on the services of John Terry, despite the England defender suffering a knee injury at Loftus Road.
In addition, Juan Mata trained at the weekend and was hoping to return to full fitness in time to feature.
The other English club in action today are Manchester United, who are desperate to put their shock group-stage exit of last season behind them.
The Red Devils entertain old foes Galatasaray, who famously knocked them out of the competition in 1993, and Sir Alex Ferguson has vowed not to repeat the mistakes that cost his side dear 12 months ago.
“If we don’t go through, we will be criticized and pilloried for it, and quite rightly,” said Ferguson, who is expected to field his strongest starting lineup for the Group H encounter, including Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa. “We’ve had our warning and I don’t anticipate going out this time. We’ve had opportunities in the competition. We’ve lost two finals to Barcelona and won two in the last decade or so, but we want to do better. Certainly, we’ll do better than last year — no question about that.”
Fresh from winning their first four La Liga games under Tito Vilanova, Barcelona play host to Spartak Moscow at the Camp Nou in their Group G opener.
The Catalans will be without the physical presence of skipper Carles Puyol, who has been ruled out for at least a month after suffering a knee injury in the 4-1 weekend win at Getafe.
However, they are heavy favorites to beat the Russians, who are now coached by Spanish former Valencia boss Unai Emery, but have struggled for consistency in the early weeks of their domestic season.
In the other game in Group G, Celtic make their return to the competition after a four-year absence with a home clash against Benfica in Glasgow.
Despite a relative lack of experience in their squad, and some questionable domestic form of late, goalkeeper Fraser Forster believes the Scottish champions have reason to be optimistic.
“The quality of the players we face will be a big step up, but we just have to go out and do our best, and hopefully that will help the squad develop and move forward,” Forster said.
Last season’s runners-up Bayern begin their latest bid for a fifth European Cup with a home clash against Valencia in Germany and it’s a game that skipper Philipp Lahm will not be taking lightly by any means.
“Wednesday will be a proper test,” he told Bayern’s official Web site. “Valencia are a top team, they’re almost always in the Champions League and almost always one of the best three clubs in Spain.”
Bayern and Valencia are in Group F along with LOSC Lille Metropole and BATE Borisov, who clash in France.
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk play Danish champions Nordsjaelland in Group E, while SC Braga and CFR Cluj meet in Group H.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but