Injury wave hits European football

LONDON (AP):

Key players will be sidelined when the Champions League resumes tomorrow after a wave of injuries within a week of the new-look competition starting.

Kylian Mbappé’s sore hamstring is likely to sideline him beyond Wednesday when he was due to return to France with defending champions Real Madrid to face Lille.

Serious knee injuries mean Manchester City midfielder Rodri is out for the season and Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen will miss at least most of it.

Inter Milan midfielder Nicolò Barella, who was a standout playing against Rodri on September 18, will miss at least one Champions League game because of a thigh strain.

The injuries to four players who were involved at the European Championship into the knockout phase have sharpened the debate about player workload in a calendar made more congested by the bigger Champions League.

The extended programme is what influential clubs all-but forced UEFA to create and the 18 games this week, split between Tuesday and Wednesday, still leaves each of them with six more to play through January.

Another final rematch

There were two repeats of past finals in the first week of games that relaunched the Champions League in a single-standings format. Man City and Inter drew 0-0 and Liverpool won 3-1 at AC Milan.

The next rematch comes Wednesday when Aston Villa host Bayern Munich, giants of the European Cup era who were shocked 1-0 in the 1982 final.

Villa Park will host a first game in the competition since March 1983 when the English side’s title defence was ended by Juventus.

Both eased to winning starts two weeks ago. Villa won 3-0 at Young Boys and Bayern’s nine goals against Dinamo Zagreb was a record for any team in the 33-season Champions League era.

Harry Kane scored four in Bayern’s 9-2 win and has a good record visiting Villa, with five goals there in five Premier League games for Tottenham. He faces a late check on an ankle injury.

Kane edges Haaland

Kane’s fast start to the season with 10 goals in seven games for Bayern has outpaced even Erling Haaland’s 10 in eight games for Man City.

Haaland was kept quiet by Inter for the second time in 16 months, a fact he was reminded of in a post-game talk with the Italian champion’s centre back Francesco Acerbi, who smiled and held up two fingers.

Haaland should find it easier on Tuesday in Slovakia when Man City face Slovan Bratislava, who took the second biggest beating in the opening round, 5-1 at Celtic.

The raucous atmosphere should follow Celtic to Borussia Dortmund whose fans in the Yellow Wall tribune are among the noisiest in Europe.

Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen host Milan after making a fast start in a 4-0 rout at Feyenoord. San Siro now revert to Inter to host Red Star Belgrade.

Arsenal host PSG in a meeting of two teams chasing a trophy they never won. Each was a beaten finalist once. Also, Barcelona host Young Boys.

Wednesday’s games

Even without Mbappé, Madrid should have too much for Lille playing in the stadium that hosted basketball group-stage games at the Paris Olympics.

Premier League leaders Liverpool host Bologna, and Girona’s first European visitors to the Montilivi stadium are Feyenoord.

Dinamo Zagreb fired coach Sergej Jakirović after the drubbing at Bayern and brought back Nenad Bjelica for a second spell. He starts in the Champions League hosting Monaco.