Inter Milan, Barcelona, AS Roma and Rangers are on the brink of qualifying in today's Champions League group matches, with Arsenal and Manchester United already through to the knockout stages.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger intends to give some of his young Gunners another chance to impress in the Group H trip to Sevilla.
A place in the last 16 of Europe's elite club competition is already in the bag after securing the point they needed with a goalless draw from the away game against Slavia Prague earlier this month.
Manchester United, meanwhile, top Group F with a perfect record of 12 points from four matches as they prepare to meet Sporting Lisbon at Old Trafford.
For Scottish club Rangers, however, there is everything to play for at VfB Stuttgart.
Midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger has warned Rangers that he and Stuttgart have regained the belief which brought them the Bundesliga title last season.
The former Aston Villa midfielder is a key figure in the Stuttgart team and was as dismayed as anyone when their season began in lackluster fashion. But Stuttgart made it four wins in a row with their weekend 4-1 victory away to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Hitzlsperger said, after Stuttgart turned on the style: "We are back to our old strength because we believe in ourselves again. After the terrible start we were determined to come back. The results have given us new self-confidence."
Stuttgart may have to cope without German player of the year Mario Gomez when they face Rangers at the Gottlieb-Daimler stadium. The striker had to come off before half-time with a back problem against Frankfurt.
He has not been ruled out yet but Stuttgart will not want to include the 22-year-old if there is any risk involved. They cannot qualify for the last 16 after losing all four of their Group E matches so far.
A Rangers victory combined with Lyon losing at home to Barcelona would give the Scots passage with a game left to go.
Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o is training again after a three-month lay-off after rupturing a tendon in a friendly match with Inter Milan in late August.
He was a goalscorer in Barca's 2-1 win over Arsenal in last year's European Champions League final though in Eto'o's absence, Argentine striker Lionel Messi has taken over the role of being Barca's principal goal getter.
Lyon, however, are set to field Brazilian Fred in the center forward role in the possible absence of Karim Benzema who has a right thigh injury. Benzemi clashed with Rennes player Bruno Cheyrou on Saturday and club doctors have put a large question mark over his appearance against Barcelona.
Meanwhile AS Roma captain Francesco Totti is a major doubt after suffering a recurrence of the foot problem that has sidelined him for the last month.
Totti lasted just 15 minutes of his return to first-team training on Nov. 22 before taking a knock on the same foot he had injured in the 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon on Oct. 23.
Although X-rays after the initial injury showed no fractures in his right foot, the player was in too much pain to train the following game and missed Saturday's Italian league match at Genoa.
Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said he did not know when Totti would be fit again though it appears unlikely that Totti, 31, will be available for the Group F match in Kiev where Roma can secure their place in the knockout rounds.
Group G leaders Inter Milan are expected to make changes for today's trip to Turks Fenerbahce after a 2-1 home victory over Atalanta in the Italian league on Saturday kept them top of the table.
Taiwan suffered its first defeat of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12, losing to defending champion Japan 3-1 at the Taipei Dome last night. Japan’s victory put Taiwan’s score at two wins and one loss in WBSC Premier12 championship Group B play. In the top of the first inning, a sacrifice fly from Japanese batter Shota Morishita allowed Masayuki Kuwahara to score a run on Taiwan’s starter Chen Po-ching (陳柏清). Taiwan’s attempt to catch up in the bottom of the first ended to no avail and an uneventful second inning saw the score
Taiwan last night defeated Cuba 2-0 in their World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 Group B game at the Taipei Dome and finished the group second. At the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium, South Korea yesterday defeated Australia 5-2, while Japan last night won 11-3 against the Dominican Republic. On Sunday, Taiwan scored two three-run homers in an 11-3 blowout win over Australia at the Taipei Dome to advance to the Super Round. Fresh off a defeat at the hands of defending Premier12 champions and Group B winners Japan the previous day, Taiwan’s offense came out slugging against Australia from the
Taiwan scored two three-run homers in an 11-3 blowout win over Australia at the Taipei Dome last night to advance to the Super Round of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 tournament. Fresh off a defeat at the hands of defending Premier12 champion and Group B winner Japan the previous day, Taiwan’s offense came out slugging against Australia from the off. After taking a walk to first base, Taiwan’s Chen Chieh- hsien (陳傑憲) then stole second before Tseng Song-en (曾頌恩) drew a walk to first in the top of the first inning. Chen then
TWO-NIL LOSS: Taiwan’s best chance to score came at the top of the fifth with the bases loaded and one out, but Venezuela’s Liarvis Breto got out of the jam Taiwan yesterday suffered a shutout 2-0 loss to Venezuela in the opening game of the WBSC Premier12 Super Round at the Tokyo Dome. Taiwan had seven hits, one more than Venezuela’s six, but catcher Carlos Perez’s two-run homer to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning delivered the only runs scored by both teams and secured victory for Venezuela. Taiwan’s best chance came at the top of the fifth inning with the bases loaded and only one out. However, Venezuela reliever Liarvis Breto struck out Chen Chen-wei before reliever Pedro Garcia finished the inning by allowing an infield flyball by Lin
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