19Feb08 Champions League Preview

Liverpool will look to put their domestic torment behind them and Chelsea aim to maintain their unbeaten record as the UEFA Champions League returns tonight.

With the pressure on, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez will be looking to pull a shock result out of the Anfield hat, but will it be such a shock if the Reds beat Serie A leaders Inter? Since becoming Liverpool manager, Benitez has led his team to two Champions League finals and has seen off the likes of Barcelona, Chelsea and Juventus in the past, whereas Inter have always been perennial underachievers in the Champions League. Tonight Liverpool will be hoping to ‘pull a Barnsley’ by winning at Anfield and finally giving the Kop something to cheer about.

Meanwhile in Piraeus, Avram Grant continues his quest for “Jose who?” to become a common utterance in West London and throughout the football world. Surely Olympiacos will provide no trouble for Chelsea, however it will be interesting to see the team that Grant picks ahead of this Sunday’s Carling Cup Final against Tottenham Hotspur.

Spanish giants Real Madrid go into their battle with AS Roma with an injury crisis that has torn through their defence. Christoph Metzelder, Pepe and Marcelo are all out injured so youngster Miguel Torres and the not fully fit Gabriel Heinze will likely fill in at the back. Whilst the men from the Italian capital are looking to bounce back from their weekend defeat against Juventus, however they may have an injury worry themselves with captain Francesco Totti not fully fit.

In the least glamorous tie of the evening Schalke 04 and 2004 winners, FC Porto do battle at the Veltins Arena. Despite Schalke losing their last match to Wolfsburg, both teams go into the match on a run of decent league form and will be looking to gain a foothold ahead of the second leg.