The giants Real Madrid of Spain and Liverpool of England seek to recover after their local setbacks in the weekend, as the former visits the newcomer Kairat of Kazakhstan and the latter faces Galatasaray of Turkey on Tuesday in the second round of the unified group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Real Madrid enters its match in Almaty with spirits completely shaken after a humiliating 5-2 defeat at home to their bitter neighbor Atlético Madrid on Saturday in the domestic league, which allowed their rival Barcelona to displace them from the top spot. This marked Real's second loss in 14 matches in all competitions under their new coach Xabi Alonso.
Alonso said his team deserved the heavy defeat, adding: "We did not play well as a team, nor in pressing, we were not at the required level." He added, "We are in a building phase, and today (Saturday) was our first loss, and we must learn from what happened, but there are no excuses. We are hurt; this was a derby match and a deserved loss." He continued, "We lacked strength... we did not compete well today, and we were not at the required level in these matches. We are not happy, but we cannot forget what we did before and how well we performed. We are progressing... our reaction to this will be the most important, in the next game, or when we face a strong opponent like Atlético."
After the difficult trip to Almaty, which hosts Real's first-ever match against a Kazakh team, Alonso hopes his players can catch their breath and prepare mentally and physically in order to try to secure their second win in this edition of the club's favorite continental competition, after a first victory over Marseille of France 2-1 in a match they finished with ten men following the dismissal of their captain Dani Carvajal.
As for Kairat, whose players celebrated being drawn against the 15-time European champions, the challenge will be very tough as shown in their first match which they lost 4-1 at home to Sporting Lisbon of Portugal.
Similarly to the royal giant, Liverpool seeks to regain balance after the painful defeat they suffered on Saturday in the league against Crystal Palace, 2-1, conceding in stoppage time.
Liverpool started their Premier League defense campaign with five consecutive wins but fell to Cup winners Crystal Palace after they thought they had secured a point in the 87th minute through Italian substitute Federico Chiesa, before Eddie Nketiah shocked them with a last-minute winner for the home team.
Liverpool's Dutch coach Arne Slot acknowledged his team "deserved" the loss, which comes in a difficult period as the game against Galatasaray at home is far from easy. This match comes ahead of two tough Premier League fixtures against Chelsea and Manchester United.
Liverpool began their continental campaign with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Atlético Madrid thanks to a last-minute goal by their Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk, who said after the defeat to Palace: "The biggest challenge now is to remain composed. As I have said before, we should not feel overly jubilant or overly frustrated. We just have to work and not listen too much to the outside world."
He continued, "I don't think there is any reason to worry, but we have to improve quickly because we play in Turkey on Tuesday. Another tough match awaits us there, and we must be ready."
Liverpool hopes that the scenario of their last visit to Galatasaray's home, when they lost 3-2 in the group stage in December 2006 in their last meeting between the two teams (who drew in 2002 in the same round, besides Liverpool's 2-1 win at home before losing in Istanbul), will not repeat.
In Cyprus, the other giant Bayern Munich of Germany is favored to continue its winning streak that has reached eight consecutive wins in all competitions since winning the domestic Super Cup in August, by visiting the newcomer Pafos, which will face a tough task against a team that won their first match 3-1 against Chelsea.
Riding high from their large victory over neighbors Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid faces Eintracht Frankfurt of Germany at home, seeking compensation for their opening loss to Liverpool, in a very tough mission against the team that thrashed Galatasaray 5-1 in the first round.
Italian runner-up Inter Milan is favored to secure their second win after a 2-0 home victory over Ajax by hosting Slavia Prague of the Czech Republic, while compatriots Atalanta aim to recover from their heavy 4-0 loss to reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain by winning against Belgian side Club Brugge.
Portuguese coach José Mourinho returns to the stadium of his former team Chelsea, which he managed between 2004-2007 and 2013-2015, winning league and League Cups three times and the FA Cup once, now leading his new-old team Benfica, which suffered a shock home loss in the opener against Qarabag of Azerbaijan 3-2 despite leading by two goals, prompting the sacking of Bruno Lage and the appointment of Mourinho.
In two other matches, wounded Ajax faces Marseille away, and English Tottenham, winners in the first round against Villarreal of Spain 1-0, visit Norwegian club Bodø/Glimt.
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