Big Midweek: Champions League returns with tasty Liverpool and Arsenal fixtures, reborn Raphinha, Man City tactical battle… | OneFootball

It’s Champions League week, ladies and gentlemen. It’s time for teams to get used to more than one game a week; this is where things really get going and football takes over your week again. As it should be.

Matchday one of the Champions League league phase is spread over three days, from Tuesday to Thursday, and some big games are being served up already. Of the Premier League’s representatives, Aston Villa are away at Club Brugge and Manchester City are at Porto on Tuesday, Liverpool host Atletico Madrid while Arsenal visit Napoli on Wednesday, and Manchester United welcome Sabah to Old Trafford on Thursday.

There’s a sprinkling of Carabao Cup third round games in between as well, not to mention nine games in the Championship.

It’s starting to get busy again…

Game to watch: Liverpool v Atletico Madrid It’s a crying shame that the Liverpool and Arsenal games are scheduled for the same time, with both looking tasty. Better get multiple screens set up.

But if it has to be a choice between the two, Liverpool’s clash with Atletico Madrid feels like it has the slight advantage in terms of spectacle.

It isn’t a rare occurrence for these two to meet in the Champions League; they did so in this phase last season too, with Liverpool winning 3-2 at Anfield.

On that occasion, Liverpool raced into a two-goal lead – just like they did on Friday against Ipswich Town, incidentally – before Atleti eventually equalised with fewer than 10 minutes of normal time remaining.

There was still space for a stoppage-time winner, with Virgil van Dijk doing the honours.

If their latest clash can serve up as much drama, it’ll be hard to look away.

The Arsenal game also has its merits. They are the superior Premier League team at the moment and, in a relief to all concerned, finally seem to have remembered how to entertain a bit as well.

But if it’s last season’s quasi-robotic tactics that you’re relieved to have escaped, bumping into Massimiliano Allegri’s Napoli might not be for you.

Napoli have bucked the trend in recent years in Serie A by offering a more attractive alternative to your stereotypical Serie A approach, but the appointment of Allegri in the summer – as if Antonio Conte being his predecessor wasn’t enough – risks undoing that process.

And while Diego Simeone has a reputation for making Atleti tough to break down as well, at least their previous meetings with Liverpool have always generated goals.

If Allegri sets Napoli up stubbornly, in contrast, there will be a threat of Arsenal’s game becoming a dull affair. Just as we thought we’d escaped all that.

Team to watch: Roma ‘The Champions League is back’ is a phrase that will be most eagerly received for certain clubs who haven’t been in it for ages.

Take, for example, Fenerbahce and Roma. After absences of 18 and seven years respectively, they just so happen to be facing off on matchday one upon their long-awaited returns to this level.

And in Roma’s case, their resumption of Champions League activities coincides with their sudden discovery of some kind of magic formula.

They have been the most eye-catching team in Serie A so far this season, finally displaying some of the hallmarks of Gian Piero Gasperini’s swashbuckling style of play that he mastered at Atalanta but had difficulties implementing at Roma last season, even if he did eventually steer them back into the top four regardless.

Roma blew away their first two opponents this season, Fiorentina and Lecce, before completing a dramatic late comeback against Atalanta on Saturday to win 2-1 with goals in 89th and 93rd minutes.

Even in that game, they conjured up 35 shots. Despite last season’s teething problems, Gasperini seems to have finetuned his front-footed approach and Roma are becoming one of European football’s big entertainers right now.

Can they replicate it on a European stage? A star-studded but ageing Fenerbahce team make for compelling opponents for them to put that to the test.

Roma have built some serious early momentum, thanks in no small part to an on-fire striker in the shape of Donyell Malen, and could barely have timed their return to looking like a serious team better for their Champions League return.

Their game – scheduled for Thursday evening in an apparent dig at theirs and Fenerbahce’s tendency to be involved in the Europa or Conference League variety of UEFA competition in recent years – doesn’t clash with any English teams’ Champions League games, so should be well worth checking out.

They are one of my dark horses.

Manager to watch: Francesco Farioli It’s extremely tempting to say Jose Mourinho is the manager to watch this week, as his Real Madrid side lock horns with one of his preferred exes, Inter Milan.

Their battle at the Bernabeu definitely stands out on this week’s schedule, pitting two massive clubs against each other and offering the first shreds of proof over whether Mourinho really is worthy of this step back up to the level of a club where merely competing in the Champions League isn’t enough on its own and the expectations are to win it, or at least come close.

But allow us to divert your attention elsewhere. We know all about Mourinho by now, after all. There will be headlines from that game, undeniably, and he will feature prominently in many. But some of said headlines will fall on deaf ears.

For those in more of a mood for discovery, consider switching over to Porto vs Manchester City at the same time on Tuesday night. We hear your accusations of Premier League bias behind that choice, but on the contrary, it’s because of Porto’s manager.

Francesco Farioli is already in his fifth managerial job at the age of 37. A former Roberto De Zerbi assistant, the Italian has become something of a hipster’s choice when it comes to managerial prospects. But don’t allow his chopping-and-changing CV fool you.

Farioli has Porto flying at the moment, with five wins from five in the Portuguese top flight and only one goal conceded along the way. After last season’s league title, it feels like his managerial potential is starting to be fulfilled.

Tuesday will be the first time he has managed against an English team in the Champions League. He faced Nottingham Forest three times in the Europa League last season, but now gets to test himself on the bigger stage against a City team that should be favourites on paper but are still very much in transition.

A tactical battle with Enzo Maresca doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as one with Pep Guardiola would have done, but it will still give a glimpse into Farioli’s credentials to challenge a theoretically elite English side.

Player to watch: Raphinha Kicking off at 5:45pm, Barcelona’s Wednesday game against Feyenoord is the perfect way to whet your appetite before that evening’s 8pm-ers involving Liverpool, Arsenal, PSG or whatever takes your fancy.

And if you haven’t been watching La Liga too closely yet this season, this should be your first chance to marvel at the latest incarnation of Raphinha.

The Barcelona captain has been in sublime form this season after reinventing himself as a striker. The void left by Robert Lewandowski this summer threatened to become a problem for Hansi Flick’s side, but Raphinha has had other ideas.

Raphinha has six goals from four games in La Liga so far this season, bagging braces against Elche and Rayo Vallecano and also netting against Valencia and Athletic Bilbao.

This is a player who predominantly operated on the right wing when he was at Leeds United and in his first year-and-a-half or so at Barca, before switching flanks to the left and thriving there as well.

Turns out he can play through the middle too – and to devastating effect. Is there anything he can’t do?

On his most recent Champions League appearance last season, Raphinha scored two goals, assisted two more and won his side a penalty, which Lamine Yamal converted.

Replicating that kind of impact would be a tall order, but Raphinha’s current form should have Feyenoord frightened regardless.

EFL Cup game to watch: Chelsea v Leeds United Away from all the Champions League hustle and bustle, there’s the small matter of the next round in the EFL Cup this week.

The standout tie is between Chelsea – a club so accustomed to having European commitments in weeks like these usually – and Leeds United.

It takes place at the same time as the Liverpool and Arsenal games on Wednesday in a cruel scheduling flaw, but if it’s English football you’re wanting, or a relevant subscription you’re lacking, this is the game to keep an eye on.

One of two all-Premier League ties taking place this week, along with Sunderland’s clash with Hull City (and ahead of four more clashes between top-flight sides later this month), it pits against each other two sides who would benefit from a cup run.

Leeds had been pining for one for years until last season, when they reached the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in almost 40 years.

Ironically, it was Chelsea who ended their journey there, with Enzo Fernandez scoring the winner for the eventual runners-up.

Now, these two foes meet again, with Chelsea looking to bounce back from Sunday’s defeat to Arsenal. They don’t have as much silverware to target as usual in Xabi Alonso’s debut season, so this competition might take on heightened importance.

Championship game to watch: Southampton v Swansea City Mid-table occupants last season, Swansea City have emerged as the early leaders in the Championship after an unbeaten opening five games.

Currently on a run of four consecutive clean sheets, the only goal they have conceded this season was back in the 10th minute of their opening game.

The latest test of their mettle will be provided on Tuesday by Southampton, a side currently in the bottom half but only because of their spygate-related points deduction.

Indeed, Southampton have more wins than losses to their name so far this season and will be hoping to climb up the table and back into the play-off contention they occupied in last season.

Only relegated Wolves have scored more goals in the Championship this season so far than Southampton, so their hosting of the league’s meanest defence to date makes for an enticing game in one of football’s most unpredictable leagues.