⛅️ UCL forecast: Reunions galore and tough tests for Liverpool and Chelsea | OneFootball

After an intriguing first round of Champions League fixtures, we’ve got some more crackers coming our way this week.

Here are our picks and predictions.

💪 Game of the week

Bayern Munich v Barcelona

There are few things football does better than a good reunion narrative, and the Allianz Arena will play host to one of the genre’s very finest when Robert Lewandowski returns as a Barcelona player on Tuesday night.

Any suggestion that Lewandowski was little more than a Bundesliga stat-padder during his time at Bayern has already been made to look ridiculous by nine goals and two assists in his first six games for Barça.

The Polish hit-man may be 34 but he’s a lean, mean, goalscoring machine who still has plenty left in the tank and a roaring hunger in his belly.

Which is bad news for his old club Bayern, who have drawn three straight matches in the Bundesliga, making it their worst start to a league season for 12 years.

Perhaps Lewandowski’s goals were more important to Bayern than we truly appreciated and although they did win away at Inter in the Champions League last week, Julian Nagelsmann’s side could really do with a confidence-boosting result.

Barça are in terrific form though and if they win in Munich, we can consider the good times well and truly on their way back to Camp Nou.

📊 Fun fact: Bayern Munich have won eight of their 11 Champions League games against Barcelona, including their last four in a row. Against no side have they won more games in the competition.

🔮 Our prediction: Bayern Munich 2-3 Barcelona

🤔 Too close to call

Liverpool v Ajax

After last week’s 4-1 defeat at Napoli, Liverpool really could have done with the chance to put a dismal night behind them quickly.

But the weekend’s Premier League cancellations meant that the Reds will have been stewing in the aftermath of that disappointing performance for much longer than they would have liked by the time their next game kicks off on Tuesday night.

And the assignments don’t get much easier, with an in-form Ajax heading to Anfield and looking to kick Jürgen Klopp’s side while they’re down.

The Dutch giants followed up last week’s 4-0 demolition of Rangers with a 5-0 thrashing of Heerenveen at the weekend, taking their tally to 28 goals in eight matches since Alfred Schreuder took over from Erik ten Hag in the summer. Pretty incredible considering they sold the likes of Sébastien Haller, Antony and Ryan Gravenberch.

If Liverpool defend like they did in Naples they will be in for another long evening, and it will be interesting to see what Klopp has up his sleeve for this one.

📊 Fun fact: Ajax are looking for their first win over Liverpool since December 1996, when they won 5-1 in a European Cup encounter.

🔮 Our prediction: Liverpool 2-2 Ajax

😨 Potential upset

Chelsea v RB Salzburg

What seemed like a relatively straightforward assignment in Zagreb ended with a defeat for Chelsea last week that proved to be Thomas Tuchel’s last match in charge of the club.

A week is a long time in football and on Wednesday night, new boss Graham Potter will take his seat in the home dugout at Stamford Bridge for the first time. It will also be the 47-year-old’s first taste of the Champions League as a manager.

Unlike Liverpool, the Premier League cancellations at the weekend perhaps came at a good time for Chelsea and enabled Potter to devote more time to meeting his new players and trying to convey his ideas on the training pitch.

But he could have a tricky start to his new job nonetheless, with Salzburg holding Milan to a draw last week having made a blistering start to their league season.

The Austrian side have a strong reputation for developing and nurturing young talent, and Chelsea will have to be especially wary of 19-year-old Slovenian sensation Benjamin Šeško in this game.

📊 Fun fact: Chelsea have never lost their first two matches of a Champions League campaign.

🔮 Our prediction: Chelsea 1-2 Salzburg

🤩 Star man

Erling Haaland (Manchester City)

We tipped Haaland to shine last week and he delivered the goods with a brace in Manchester City’s win over Sevilla.

Admittedly it wasn’t the most outlandish prediction anybody has ever made, but we fancy the Norwegian to get on the scoresheet again when he is reunited with his old club Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday evening.

Dortmund made a good start to their Champions League campaign with a 3-0 win over Copenhagen last week, but then they followed it up with a lamentable 3-0 defeat against their old manager Marco Rose’s RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga on Saturday.

We’re expecting a City victory and a muted celebration from Haaland after he inevitably comes back to haunt BVB at the Etihad.