UCL Preview: Udinese out to Inflict More Misery for Wenger
Even though Udinese play their first leg of the Champions League qualification match against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, they are likely to be overjoyed at playing Arsenal now.
A few weeks ago, Arsenal included both Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas for the fixtures, but it looks like both these influential players will not be present in the Arsenal squad. It provides Udinese with a perfect opportunity to create one of the shock upsets in the Champions League this season.
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Although given that they performed exceptionally well in the Italian Serie A last season, not many will be viewing a Udinese success as a surprise.
Arsenal started their Premier League campaign with a draw against Newcastle. They looked short of ideas in the attacking third of the pitch without Cesc Fabregas in the line-up. If it proves to be the case again, Udinese do have a great opportunity to make it to the group stages.
Arsene Wenger, though, will be keen to point out that Arsenal do have life in them, despite the exit of Fabregas. Arsenal will have to do without Arsene Wenger at the touchline, while Robin van Persie is also suspended.
FC Twente have been an extremely good run in the Champions League for the last few seasons and they will be looking to continue that when they take on Benfica. Only the Portuguese club Benfica stands between them and the group stages of the Champions League, which is lucrative in terms of prize money.
Benfica also have the qualification as their main objective, so as to stay in the same position as archrivals Porto, who are expected to have a good Champions League season this term.
Benfica did well in last round's home fixture, but did not do well in the reverse fixture. They could only draw with Trabzonspor, although that was more than enough. There is every reason that Benfica could attempt to repeat those performances against Twente as well, given that the second leg is at home.
This crucial advantage to Benfica could make Twente nervous, as they should take advantage of any support they might get at the De Grolsch Veste. Twente will be without the services of Nacer Chadli, although goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov has returned to the side. Pablo Aimar is the major doubt for Benfica.
Lyon will be looking to put behind all their troubles of recent seasons to get into the group stages of the Champions League, which will ensure them enough revenue to buy talented players needed to get them back to the top of Ligue One.
Rubin Kazan, on the other hand, will be looking to impress clubs across the world with their incredible talent at the disposal. Despite being relatively unknown, Rubin Kazan managed to snatch a win against Barcelona and drew against Inter Milan in recent seasons. They have started this season's Champions League campaign in impressive form after they have won against Dynamo Kyiv in both matches of the previous round.
This will be the first Champions League match of the season for Lyon. They started their league campaign with a win, but could manage only a draw in their most recent match against Ajaccio. Lyon will be the favorites to win the match against Rubin Kazan at home, although the same cannot be said of the away fixture that is set to take place in the next few weeks.
Lyon's last defeat at home came at the end of 2010, which speaks volumes of the task that Rubin Kazan have ahead of them.
OB Odense and Villarreal will be facing each other after a gap of seven years. OB Odense are likely to be not confident of progress into the next round should history counts anything towards the result of this match.
Back in 2004, Villarreal won both fixtures against OB Odense in convincing fashion, with the Danish team unable to even score a goal. However, they seem to have come quite a long way since then and have been impressive in the qualifying stages so far.
A rollercoaster 3-4 victory over Panathinaikos has given them the opportunity to play against Villarreal, who will face their first competitive fixture of the season. As OB Odense have already been involved in various competitions in Denmark, there are likely to have superior advantage when it comes to the fitness levels.
It could play a slight part in providing the Danish side with the advantage, although most of it could arrive in the form of the home support. Villarreal, though, will see this fixture as the perfect opportunity to get an away result and ensure progress after the second leg at the Camp El Madrigal.
Bayern Munich started their Bundesliga campaign with a defeat, but quickly recovered with an away victory over Wolfsburg. The win may be by a solitary goal, but it truly does not reflect the dominance of Bayern Munich in the match.
It is the sort of performance that they will be hoping for in the first leg match against Zurich. It is extremely important given that Zurich are in a good run of form now.
Zurich have won three matches on the bounce, with one among them ending up in a 6-0 score line. Getting into the group stages of the Champions League is extremely important for a club like Bayern Munich.
They are not expected to take this match lightly.
Any advantage taken from the home match can be of much importance in the second leg away to Zürich. It is Zurich, though, who have to worry about entertaining Bayern Munich in the second leg, as they have a very good away record. This will also be the first time that both sides will be meeting each other.
Bayern Munich new signing Jerome Boateng is unlikely to be available for the match.
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