Paris: Reigning champions Barcelona face Bayer Leverkusen without the injured Lionel Messi while Jose Mourinho goes back to his old club Porto with Chelsea in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Barcelona are reeling from the blow of losing Messi for up to eight weeks with knee ligament damage as they prepare to welcome Leverkusen to the Camp Nou.
The Argentine, who became the first player to score five goals in a Champions League game when Barca crushed Leverkusen 7-1 in the round of 16 at the Camp Nou in 2011/12, came off early in Barca’s 2-1 win over Las Palmas in La Liga on Saturday and will be missed as the reigning European champions seek a first win in Group ‘E’.
However, it was Luis Suarez who scored in their 1-1 draw at Roma two weeks ago and the Uruguayan also got both goals against Las Palmas.
Meanwhile, Leverkusen make the trip fresh from a 3-0 victory at Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Saturday and beat BATE 4-1 in their opening group game. Meanwhile, In the midst of a frustrating start to the season, Jose Mourinho returns to Portugal on Tuesday as Chelsea face his old side FC Porto.
The London club are looking to make it two wins out of two in Group ‘G’ after their straightforward 4-0 victory against Maccabi Tel-Aviv at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago, but they must improve on another poor performance in the Premier League at the weekend.
Chelsea had to come from two goals down to draw 2-2 away to struggling Newcastle United on Saturday, with Brazilian duo Ramires and Willian scoring to rescue a point for the English champions.
Mourinho later admitted that the first-half performance at St James’ Park was Chelsea’s worst under his management, rating it as “minus one” Roma are the favourites heading into the game in Belarus, although the Italian side make the trip without Edin Dzeko, Francesco Totti and Seydou Keita, who are all injured.
Nevertheless, the Giallorossi are fresh from a 5-1 win against Carpi in Serie ‘A’ and are now looking to build on a 1-1 draw with Barca a fortnight ago.
Bayern Munich and Dinamo Zagreb are looking to build on wins in their opening matches as they clash at the Allianz Arena, but anything other than a convincing Bayern win would be a major surprise.
The German champions are in rampant form, having won nine games in a row in all competitions, scoring 29 goals in the process.
