The NextGen series rounds up its September action tonight with three games all taking place; while no English teams are in action they will all still do well to take a vested interest in tonight’s action as many of the teams participating have already dispatched of English opposition in this year’s edition.
PSV Eindhoven get action under way in the early evening at De Herdgang in Holland as they welcome Sporting Lisbon to their home ground. The Portuguese side boast a 100% record in the competition so far, including victories over British pair Aston Villa and Celtic. This sees them sitting at the top of Group 4 and Villa fans will hope they conquer a PSV side that has also defeated the Midlander’s in this year’s competition and run away with the group; hypothetically leaving Villa, PSV and Celtic in a straight shoot-out for the final qualification berth.
The champions are also in action today as Borussia Dortmund travel to Italy to take on the mighty Inter Milan. The reigning champs struggled to put a weakened Liverpool side to bed in their opening fixture despite dominating possession in a 3-2 victory while this is the German side’s first fixture.
With their recent history of unearthing precocious talent hopes are high for Dortmund but they will not face a sterner test then the one Inter Milan pose. The Stadio Citta di Meda will be the venue and the result should give Liverpool some real clues about their chances in Group 5.
While the final game today sees the two sides Arsenal have locked horns with so far in Group 6 go head-to-head in the South of France as Marseille welcome Greek side Olympiakos in an intriguing tie.
The entire of Group 6 currently sit on three points after sharing victories after the opening two ties and while Marseille were out-played by Arsenal away from home and the same for Olympiakos away to Bilbao; in their home ties they fared much better as they overcame the group favourites. Arsenal’s NextGen campaign could hinge on matches like these so it will be interesting to see how these two get on this evening.
The next round of matches is in October with games on the third and fourth of October, including British participation:
3rd October 2012
Wolfsburg v Barcelona
CSKA Moscow v Chelsea
Celtic v PSV Eindhoven
4th October 2012
Fenerbahce v Manchester City
Arsenal v Olympiakos
image: © batrax
Mathew Nash
@hitcmathewnashGoogle+more stories from Mathew Nash
I’m Mathew Nash a 23 year old graduate in Sports Studies and I have an insatiable love for sport. With a particularly keen interest for the madcap world of football I have always been known amongst friends as a beacon for bizarre sporting trivia and knowledge. My other passion is for writing and hopefully combining the two will create a superb and entertaining marriage that will create, divide and share opinion.
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