Champions League Matchday 2 Preview, Group D: September 29, 2010

Rubin Kazan vs Barcelona

Rubin’s Champions League record is not exactly something that anybody would boast about—they have never won at home in the history of the competition and to make things worse they have failed to score in their last three home matches in the group stages. And unfortunately for the home side they are playing one of Europe’s best sides who happen to have a particularly good record when it comes to playing against Russian sides.

Whilst Rubin’s record is poor Barcelona have had a pretty bleak away record in Europe recently, they have won only one of their last nine away matches in the competition. On paper they are a fantastically better side, in fact there should be no contest between the two sides and Barcelona should walk all over them.

Last year, this fixture had a shocking result with Barcelona losing at home and drawing against the Russians away. In Barcelona’s match against Panathinaikos, the Spaniards managed to complete a whopping 792 passes which is more than any other team in the league so far, this added up to a 92 percent completion rate.

If they repeat that sort of form, there won't be much chance of them losing as Rubin will be lucky to get a touch of the ball.


Panathinaikos vs Copenhagen

Panathinaikos need one more goal to reach their 300th in European competition, so reaching this landmark will be something to be proud of especially if they can celebrate that with a win. These two teams have only met once before and the match did go in favour of Panathinaikos, however this was three years ago and in the UEFA Cup.

That was the only time that FC Copenhagen have ever played against a Greek club before. Overall Panathinaikos have not been particularly great at home recently, at least in the Champions League; they have only won one of their last six matches. They will be desperate to put in a better performance than in their humiliating thrashing by Barcelona.

Copenhagen will be looking to improve their last performance in the Champions League where they lost all three of their away matches in the group stages. This could quite possibly be their best chance of picking up a win away from home. But if Panathinaikos play like they did against Barcelona then this could be Copenhagen’s best chance to pick up some points away from home.

Joe - livescoredaily.com - live scores and live sports