UEFA Champions League Matchday 4 Preview, Group D: Nov. 2, 2010

Copenhagen vs. Barcelona

These two sides are heading their group and by quite a comfortable cushion. Copenhagen will be expected to play for a draw, which will probably serve them quite well in the qualification process.

The Danish side have had a pretty good run so far in the Champions League and after beating Rubin and Panathinaikos, they look pretty solid to progress.

Odds are that this game isn’t going to go entirely their way, which is hardly a surprise: after all they are playing Barcelona.

Copenhagen did lose in the reverse fixture (2-0), but who knows, maybe they’ll get lucky at home and manage to perform something of a miracle.

Barcelona will be eager to secure qualifying early, even some of the more senior players have said to the press that the side would be elated as it would take some of the pressure off the Spanish giants and allow some key players to be rested ahead of domestic matches.

Assuming this match goes as expected, then that could be the case. There is no reason why Barca shouldn’t take all three points from the match and in all likelihood, they probably will.

The worst imaginable result for the away side should be a draw.


Rubin Kazan vs Panathinaikos

Panathinaikos have had a pretty miserable Champions League run, only racking up one measly point, which is pretty much enough to rule out any chance of them progressing to the knockout stages.

The fact is that Rubin haven’t got much chance of getting through themselves. It was always going to be a tough group for the clubs; after all, nobody wanted to be in Barcelona’s company.

Panathinaikos have been leaking goals and Rubin haven’t been scoring, maybe between the two deficiencies things might add up to a half-decent game, unlike the first leg of this match, which ended with a rather stale 0-0 draw.

Neither of these two sides have actually managed a win in this competition and the more likely of the pair does seem to be the Russian-based home team.

The home side do have a few aces up their sleeve, the only thing is that they just don’t seem to be enough to cope with the Champions League.

Even if they manage to take the maximum points from their last few games and progress to the knockout stages, it isn’t all too likely that they will proceed much further unless something changes very drastically.

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