AFP Sport looks ahead to Tuesday's Champions League action as holder Real Madrid takes on Tottenham Hotspur and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City hosts Italian high-flyers Napoli (all kick-offs 1215 IST):
Group E:
Maribor v Liverpool:
Liverpool heads to Slovenia still looking for its first Champions League group-stage victory away from home since a 1-0 win at Debrecen in November 2009.
Jurgen Klopp's men are winless in three games in all competitions and have drawn their first two Group E encounters against Sevilla and Spartak Moscow. The five-time European champion will have to make do without forward Sadio Mane, who is still ruled out with the muscle problem that forced him to miss Saturday's drab 0-0 draw with Manchester United.
Maribor drew its opening match with Spartak and has a solid European record at home against English teams. It held Chelsea in the 2014-15 Champions League group stage and Tottenham Hotspur in the 2012-13 Europa League, before beating Wigan Athletic the following season.
Spartak Moscow v Sevilla:
Sevilla tops the early group standings after a comfortable victory over Maribor last time out and a 2-2 opening draw at Anfield. Russian champion Spartak held off a Liverpool onslaught to grab its second point in its first Champions League group-stage campaign since 2012. The capital club has turned around a poor start to the season with a nine-match unbeaten streak in all competitions.
Sevilla has kicked off the campaign strongly and sits fourth in La Liga despite a 1-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday. The record five-time Europa League winner is the favourite to top Group E, as it looks to improve on last term's Champions League showing when it suffered a shock last-16 defeat by Leicester City. It will be the first meeting of the two sides.
Group F:
Manchester City v Napoli:
Pep Guardiola's Premier League pace-setter locks horns with Serie A front-runner Napoli as Manchester City attempts to make it three wins from three in the section. The Italians suffered an opening setback to Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, but Maurizio Sarri's side has swept aside all-comers in Italy -- its 1-0 win at Roma on Saturday stretched its winning run in the league to eight matches.
In England, City pulled two points clear of Manchester United at the top following a 7-2 demolition of Stoke City achieved without Sergio Aguero, who was left on the bench after recovering from a broken rib suffered in a car crash in Amsterdam last month. City became the first English top-flight team to score 29 goals in its first eight league games of the season since Everton in 1894. Napoli has never won in England in five previous trips.
Feyenoord v Shakhtar Donetsk:
Dutch champion Feyenoord must regroup quickly to avoid a premature end to its European adventure following defeats by Manchester City and Napoli. Its league form has also tailed off dramatically after kicking off the season with four straight wins -- Saturday's 0-0 draw at home to Zwolle marked the third time in four outings it had failed to score.
Shakhtar was unbeaten in 27 away games before losing to City three weeks ago, while its track record against Dutch opposition is awful with four defeats in as many matches. Brazilian-born Marlos, scorer of six goals this term for the Ukrainian league leaders, earned his first Ukraine cap in a 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Kosovo on October 6.
Group G:
RB Leipzig v Porto:
A tough third outing for debutants RB Leipzig which is seeking its first win in the competition. Its Portuguese rival won the title in 2004 and come calling on the back of an impressive 3-0 win over last season's semifinalist Monaco that has left it second in the group. The match reunites Leipzig striker Timo Werner, who scored twice in Germany's 3-1 defeat of Cameroon in July's Confederations Cup, with his Porto opposite number Vincent Aboubakar, who got the African champion's goal that day and who last week signed a new deal tying him to Porto until 2021. Leipzig, last season's runner-up in its Bundesliga debut, beat Borussia Dortmund at the weekend , with Porto held to a goalless stalemate by Sporting Lisbon in its domestic Liga.
Monaco v Besiktas:
Besiktas is at Monaco hunting a third straight win after the Turkish champion dished out defeats to Porto and Leipzig. That's left it three points clear at the top of a table footed by French champion Monaco. The Istanbul club has history against it as it has never beaten a Ligue 1 side on its previous four visits to France. Monaco lines up for the two teams' first ever meeting looking to kick-start its European campaign after a lopsided loss to Porto and opening stalemate with Leipzig.
Key striker Radamel Falcao was rested for Friday's 3-2 away loss to Lyon which left Leonardo Jardim's side, Champions League finalist in 2004, six points adrift of leader PSG. Monaco may never have crossed swords with Besiktas, but Falcao has, scoring against it when he was with Porto in the 2010-11 Europa League and for eventual winner Atletico Madrid in the same competition the following season.
Group H:
Real Madrid v Tottenham Hotspur:
European champion Real Madrid hosts Tottenham Hotspur with both teams looking to seize control of the group following back-to-back victories to start the competition. The odds are stacked in favour of the Spaniards which has won three of four meetings with Spurs and is yet to concede a goal against the Premier League side. Real is unbeaten at home in the group stage dating back to 2009, winning 21 of 23 matches since then at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Luka Modric could face his former club, although Gareth Bale is unlikely to be fit for Real. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first La Liga goal of the season with a late winner in Saturday's 2-1 victory at Getafe. Tottenham striker Harry Kane has netted 15 goals in his last 11 outings for club and country, but Spurs will be without Dele Alli who serves the final game of a three-match ban.
APOEL Nicosia v Borussia Dortmund:
Victory in Cyprus is imperative for Borussia Dortmund if the Bundesliga leader is to reignite its flickering European hopes. Peter Bosz's men also lost their unbeaten domestic record over the weekend after being beaten 3-2 at home to RB Leipzig despite a brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Leipzig pips Dortmund in five-goal thriller
Dortmund's recent form on the continent is dreadful with the side losing five of its last seven matches, while APOEL is looking for a first win in the Champions League proper since March 2012.
Both Dortmund and APOEL are seeking their first points in the group after successive defeats in what is the first encounter between the two clubs.
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