Day: August 6, 2018

Fenerbahce make a return to the Champions League after a two years absence from Europe’s premier competition, and they would be looking to make it to the group stage.

The Turks were eliminated by eventual semifinalists, AS Monaco is 2016, but they would consider Benfica not as tough as the Kylian Mbappe led Monaco.

Benfica would be hoping to make a return to the group stage that they failed to win a single match last season, failure to do so would mean that Portugal would have just a single representative in the competition.

Benfica lost all their group games last season and that is understandable as they had several departures whom they failed to adjust to. They eventually found some form in their domestic league and pushed FC Porto all the way in the title race, that should give them some confidence of a home win in this third round matchup.

Fenerbahce were unlucky to exit the Champions League qualifiers in 2016 following a 4-3 aggregate loss to Monaco, but they look a better team now after scoring 78 goals in their league last season.

We expect them to follow up on that in this game and punish this Benfica defence that is still struggling.

This game sees two good teams come together on Tuesday in this Brazilian Serie A, and we expect to see plenty of goalmouth actions at both ends of the pitch in this game.

Athletico have collected 27 points so far this season and that has moved them to an impressive 4th position. Expectations were not so high for them ahead of the new season, so their fans would consider this a great season so far as they look set to end in a Copa Libertadores position.

The host have won an impressive six games in their last 8 home fixtures, and while their away form is still questionable, they would look to bag all three points here.

Internacional, on the other hand, are having a season so fine that no one would have predicted.

They bounced back from Serie B at the first time of asking this season, and have collected 29 points at this stage already. That points haul has taken them to 3rd on the league table, and this game offers them the chance to prove that they deserve their position on the league table.

The sides last met in August last year, with Atletico Mineiro running out 1-0 winners. The last league meetings between the two came in 2016, with each side winning their home game against the other.

3 of the last 4 meetings between Atletico and Internacional have seen goals at both ends.

The last round wasn’t the toughest for Ajax, and they would be hoping to continue their push for a place in the group stage by eliminating their Belgian host in this round. Standard Liege are returning to this competition after a four years absence, they would be keen on getting a good first-leg advantage to take to Holland.

Liege do not measure up to the standard of Ajax in terms of European reputation, and they would have to be at their best to eliminate the Dutchmen, however, Ajax have struggled in Europe in recent times. They were eliminated from the Champions League and Europa League in a matter of days last season, they would want to avoid such a shameful scenario here again.

Ajax last met Standard in 2016 on their way to the Europa League final, drawing 1-1 in a trip here during the group stage.

Standard have won one of their last eight Champions League games.