Real Madrid, a Heavy Guest for AEK Athens Today

Spanish giants Real Madrid travel to face Greek side AEK Athens in a highly anticipated match on Tuesday evening, as part of Matchday 4 of the new unified league phase of the UEFA Champions League.

The Spanish club, under the guidance of Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho, enters the contest in excellent form, having collected maximum points from their first three matches. They are also riding a six-game winning streak across all competitions, the latest being a 3-0 victory over Racing Santander in La Liga. Recent training sessions saw midfielder Federico Valverde return to full fitness.

In another fixture, Liverpool travel to Istanbul to face Fenerbahce at the Çobançeşme Stadium. Under manager Andoni Iraola, Liverpool have recently gone five matches unbeaten in all competitions, but their run was ended by a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal at Anfield last Sunday. Nevertheless, Liverpool have started their Champions League campaign ideally, winning all three of their matches, and travel to Turkey with confidence after suffering only two defeats throughout the season.

Czech side Slavia Prague aim to avoid an unwanted record when they host English club Arsenal. The Czech champions have won just one of their 23 Champions League matches, a victory against Romanian side Steaua Bucuresti in their debut appearance in September 2007. Since then, they have recorded only eight draws and 14 defeats across four participations in the premier continental competition, including the current edition.

AEK Athens hold the record for the longest winless streak in the competition, failing to secure a victory in 24 consecutive matches between 1992 and 2006. Meanwhile, Steaua, now known as FC FCSB, went 23 matches without a win between 2006 and 2013.

Argentine Martin Demichelis hopes to prove his credentials as a manager capable of rising to the occasion of big matches when he leads German club RB Leipzig against his former team, English side Manchester City. The former defender spent three seasons playing for City, winning the Premier League title in the 2013-14 season, as well as two League Cup trophies.

Other matches today include Norway’s Viking facing Azerbaijan’s Sabah, German club Borussia Dortmund hosting Spain’s Real Betis, Dutch side PSV Eindhoven playing against Belgian club Club Brugge, France’s Lens taking on Italy’s Como, and Portugal’s Porto facing Italy’s Napoli.