this Champions LeagueThe world’s most prestigious club championship begins the group stage of the 2023/24 season this Tuesday. Fans will not ignore this detail. On this occasion, Neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo will take part in the game.
The Argentinian and Portuguese have both managed to be at the top of European football for many years and for the first time in two decades neither are starring in the continental championship.
Messi, who became a football player for Inter Miami at the age of 36, would not have noticed the huge celebrations of European football, of which he has been a vital part since debuting with Barcelona in 2004-05, Until a recent European football match. He played one game at Paris Saint-Germain.
Captain of the Argentina national team, Four-time champion (2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015)He ranks second on the all-time goalscoring list with 129 goals, behind Cristiano Ronaldo and following Portuguese and former Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas. (177 goals) followed by the third highest goalscoring player (163 goals).
Cristiano (38) is a member of Al Nasrr team in Saudi Arabia. In his history, he has the record of participating in Champions League games (183 games) and scoring goals (140 games). He achieved this as a player for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United and Real Madrid.
The Portuguese is also one of the players to have lifted the trophy five times (2008, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018), one less than the Spaniard Paco Gento with the most titles.
Champions League star players and teams
With both absent, viewers’ attention will be on the Norwegian Erling Haaland and the french Kylian Mbappe Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) leads a star-studded line-up for the UEFA competition, whose final will be held on June 1, 2024 at London’s legendary Wembley Stadium.
Haaland was the top scorer in the last league, scoring 12 goals in 11 games that season. Guardiola’s Manchester City first.
champion, in which the status of Argentinian Julian AlvarezAs a starter in the first five rounds of the Premier League, he will face the 1990/91 European champion Red Star Belgrade at home on Tuesday.
Manchester City are seeded in Group G, which faces Germany’s RB Leipzig and Switzerland’s Juniors, which will also debut at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern on the same day.
The first day of the group stage also included Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid, a consistent protagonist over the past decade who had participated in the finals in 2014 and 2016 but lost both times to Real Madrid.
“Colchonero” will participate in Group E as a visiting team of Italian team Lazio, without Rodrigo De Paul (injury), but with two other world champions available: defender Nahuel Molina and Forward Angel Correa.
In Group F, Spaniard Luis Enrique’s new PSG will once again try to conquer Europe without Messi and will face difficulty in the first stop against the Bundesliga giants: Borussia Dortmund.
Champions League first game matches
Tuesday:
- Group F: Milan-Newcastle (1:45pm, Fox Sports 2 and Star+) and Paris Saint-Germain-Borussia Dortmund (4:00pm, Fox Sports 2 and Star+).
- Group G: Young Boys-Leipzig (1:45pm, ESPN 2 and Star+) and Manchester City-Estrella Roja (4:00pm, ESPN and Star+).
- Group H: Shakhtar Donetsk – Porto (16:00, ESPN 3 and Star+) and Barcelona – Antwerp (16:00, ESPN 2 and Star+).
- Group E: Lazio-Atletico Madrid (4:00pm, Fox Sports 3 and Star+) and Feyenoord-Celtic Glasgow (4:00pm, Fox Sports 3 and Star+).
Wednesday:
- Group A: Galatasaray-Copenhagen (1:45 p.m., ESPN and Star+); Bayern Munich-Manchester United (4:00 p.m., ESPN and Star+).
- Group B: Arsenal-PSV (4:00 p.m., Fox Sports 3 and Star+) and Sevilla-Lens (4:00 p.m., ESPN 2 and Star+).
- Group C: Real Madrid – Union Berlin (1:45pm, Fox Sports and Star+) Braga – Napoli (4:00pm, ESPN 3 and Star+).
- Group D: Benfica-Salzburg (16.00, Fox Sports 2 and Star+) and Real Sociedad-Inter Milan (16.00, Fox Sports and Star+).