MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Real Madrid and Liverpool aim to extend their perfect starts to the Champions League on Wednesday.
Record 15-time European champion Madrid travels to AEK Athens, and six-time winner Liverpool heads to Fenerbahce.
Madrid coach Jose Mourinho is targeting another Champions League title, following wins with Porto and Inter Milan, but is refusing to look too far ahead.
“It would be the third with three different clubs, and this
one with the biggest club in the world. But we are talking about hypothetical situations and I prefer real ones,” Mourinho said. “The reality is that we still need points to qualify. Until we are qualified, I don’t like talking about the round of 16.”
Last season's runner-up Arsenal is at Slavia Prague and Manchester City is away to RB Leipzig.
Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé goes into the game in hot form having scored 15 goals in 14 appearances this season, including seven in his last five.
The France international has scored in each of his last five Champions League appearances.
Teammate Jude Bellingham is on the verge of reaching another Champions League landmark as the youngest player to make 60 appearances in the competition at the age of 23 years and 128 days.
He would overtake longtime Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who was 23 years and 167 days when he reached the same milestone.
Bellingham is already the youngest player to make 50 appearances.
Liverpool is aiming to bounce back from Sunday's Premier League loss to Arsenal.
The Merseyside club lost 1-0 at Anfield, but coach Andoni Iraola believed there were positives to take ahead of the game against Fenerbahce.
“It’s difficult when you lose. But, honestly, I’m happy with a lot of things from the other day,” Iraola said. “Still, we need to improve, especially attacking the box.”
After back-to-back losses in the Premier League, City coach Enzo Maresca has called for an end to costly errors.
City has lost to Aston Villa and Brighton in recent weeks with individual mistakes making the difference.
“Unfortunately it is happening for our players, but I think it is part of the game, part of football. In the last two or three games it has happened many times against us,” Maresca said ahead of the Champions League game against Leipzig. “We need to analyze and understand what we can do better and try to move on.
“For sure we are not happy. The players, me, the coaching staff, the club.”
Paris Saint-Germain set a record as the quickest team to score four goals in the history of the competition, by powering into a 4-0 lead after 17 minutes against Villarreal on its way to a 6-0 win on Tuesday.
Manchester United staged a stunning comeback to recover from its worst start to a European home game by beating Roma 3-2.
Barcelona beat Aston Villa 3-0 and Bayern Munich won 2-0 at Atletico Madrid.
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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
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