Europe’s elite return to action this week with 16 tantalising ties from matchday two as the group stages of the UEFA Champions League continues on October 1-2.
ITV has chosen to screen Celtic’s home clash with Barcelona as their live game on Tuesday night, with Arsenal and Chelsea’s games against Napoli and Steaua Bucharest respectively on Sky Sports.
Both Manchester sides are in action on Wednesday, when all eight games are exclusively live on Sky Sports, featuring Manchester City’s encounter with the defending Champions League winners Bayern Munich at the Etihad Stadium.
Following on from their surprising home defeat on Saturday at the hands of West Brom, Manchester United have a tough fixture to return to return to winning ways against Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine.
All the drama and excitement from this season’s UEFA Champions League campaign will be covered as usual by ITV and Sky Sports.
ITV will continue to screen its chosen first pick of Tuesday night matches throughout the competition, from the group stages to next May’s final in Lisbon.
Adrian Chiles will continue to host ITV’s live match coverage where he will be joined by regular pundits Roy Keane and Lee Dixon
Matt Smith will present highlights of the Tuesday night games in UEFA Champions League Extra Time on ITV at 10.35pm during each matchday.
Free-to-view highlights of Wednesday matches will be available online via the ITV Football website from Fridays.
Sky Sports will again screen 15 matches from each week of the group stages exclusively live.
In total, 129 games will be shown throughout the competition, including the final at Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz in May 2014.
Jeff Stelling leads Sky’s live coverage on each matchday and will be joined by a variety of guests throughout the season, including Ruud Gullit, Graeme Souness, Jamie Redknapp and new Sky signing Jamie Carragher.
Along with at least live games on the main Sky Sports channels on Tuesday and Wednesday, viewers can also press the red button to access Sky’s unique interactive service and watch a host of other live games from around the continent on the same night.
Details of when and where to watch all the matchday 2 fixtures below:
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| TUESDAY 1st OCTOBER |
CELTIC v BarcelonaGroup H |
19:45 |
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A passionate Glasgow crowd will hope that Celtic can reproduce last season’s extraordinary victory over Champions League powerhouses Barcelona.
But with Celtic Park’s esteemed visitors having made a perfect winning start to their Spanish La Liga campaign and with Lionel Messi scoring freely, it looks a daunting challenge for the Scottish champions.
Neil Lennon’s side will be bidding to reproduce last season’s famous 2-1 victory over the Catalan giants in the group stage.
The Bhoys go into the game following a group match against AC Milan at the San Siro, having overcome Shakhter Karagandy in the Champions League play-off round.
Irish striker Anthony Stokes’s goal-scoring start to the season and deadline day signing Teemu Pukki may prove key to the team’s hopes in this tie.
Meanwhile Barcelona made a winning start to their campaign in La Liga, with talisman Lionel Messi and new signing Neymar already off the mark.
They will be hoping to improve on their 7-0 aggregate Champions League semi-final defeat by Bayern Munich last season.
Adrian Chiles introduces ITV’s live coverage from Celtic Park alongside former Celtic and current Scotland manager Gordon Strachan, plus regular ITV pundits Roy Keane and Lee Dixon.
Commentary comes from Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend, while Gabriel Clarke conducts interviews and reports from the touchline.
North of the border, STV will provide its own dedicated coverage for Scottish viewers.
Raman Bhardwaj presents STV’s live coverage of the match, where he will be joined by Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay and former Celtic striker John Hartson for analysis in the studio.
Derek Rae will provide commentary alongside current Scotland assistant coach Mark McGhee.
There will also be a pre-match preview show broadcast live on STV on Monday, September 30 at 11.05pm, with Bhardwaj joined by McGhee and acclaimed writer, broadcaster and Spanish resident Graham Hunter.
ARSENAL v NapoliGroup F |
19:45 |
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Sky Sports leads its Tuesday night coverage from the Emirates Stadium where Arsenal play host to Italian side Napoli.
After a summer of intense transfer talk and extreme pressure on the manager to spend big money in the market, the Gunners somewhat surprisingly top the Premier League table after the opening six games of the season.
Meanwhile the visitors are now managed by former Liverpool and Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez.
His side boasts a squad that contains on-loan Reds keeper Pepe Reina, as well as striker Gonzalo Higuain, a summer transfer target of Arsene Wenger before he turned his attention towards chasing the signature of Luis Suarez.
Both teams won their opening fixture in the group, with the Gunners winning 2-1 away to Marseille and Napoli prevailing by the same scoreline at home to last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund.
Live coverage of this Group F clash from the Emirates begins on Sky Sports 2 at 7.00pm, presented by Jeff Stelling.
Steaua Bucharest v CHELSEAGroup E |
19:45 |
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Following their eventful 1-1 draw with Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday, Chelsea travel to Bucharest for a tricky Champions League fixture.
These two sides met as recently as March this year in the last 16 of the Europa League.
The Blues progressed over two legs – going on to win the competition – but it was the Romanians who picked up a 1-0 victory on home soil, with the since-departed Raul Rusescu scoring the only goal from the spot.
However, the Londoners will be desperate to avoid defeat tonight, having suffered a shock 2-1 home loss against FC Basel in their opening encounter.
Ben Shephard presents live coverage on Sky Sports 4 from 7.30pm. A further four games will be available to watch via the Red Button, including Ajax v AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund v Marseille.
| WEDNESDAY 2nd OCTOBER |
MANCHESTER CITY v Bayern MunichGroup D |
19:45 |
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The standout match of this round of the group stage pits Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City against reigning champions Bayern Munich.
A surprise quarter-finalist with Málaga last term, the Chilean will be expected to mould City into a serious European force after two seasons of bitter disappointment under Roberto Mancini.
He’s certainly got his work cut out this week, though. Now led by former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola, the German giants have made it to three of the past four finals.
Jeff Stelling will present live coverage of the match, featuring extensive previews and analysis of all eight of Wednesday night’s games, on Sky Sports 1 from 6.00pm, alongside special guests.
The game is also live in stunning 3D via the Sky 3D channel from 7.30pm.
Shakhtar Donetsk v MANCHESTER UNITEDGroup A |
19:45 |
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Manchester United have potentially awkward away fixture to negotiate on matchday two as they face Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk at the Donbass Arena.
Both sides began the group campaign with a victory two weeks ago, with United beating Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 at Old Trafford, and Shakhtar winning 2-0 away to Real Sociedad.
Despite winning on matchday one, United have lost three of their opening six games in the Premier League under new manager David Moyes – their worst start to a domestic campaign since 1989-90 – with the latest setback coming on Saturday in a 2-1 home defeat to West Brom at Old Trafford.
They have not enjoyed great success in either of their previous two European campaigns under former boss Sir Alex Ferguson, going out at the group stage in 2012 and losing in the last 16 to Real Madrid last season.
The Red Devils went on to win the competition the last time they drew a Ukrainian side in the group stages, putting a total of eight goals past Dynamo Kiev over two fixtures during the 2007/08 campaign.
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| CRISTIANO RONALDO: FOOTBALLING SUPERSTAR |
Following ITV’s live coverage of Celtic v Barcelona on Tuesday evening, ITV4 will screen a special one-hour documentary which looks at the illustrious career and analyses the mind-set and motivation of one of football’s most famous faces – Cristiano Ronaldo.
He arrived in Manchester ten years ago as a replacement for the ultimate iconic player, David Beckham. A callow, skinny youth he came from Madeira with bags of potential.
In five years he became a champion, both in England and Europe becoming an 80 million Galatico in the Spanish capital.
Today, only Lionel Messi rivals Cristiano Ronaldo but off the field the little Argentinian pales next to his Portuguese rival.
With his flamboyant style, good looks and charismatic approach, Ronaldo is a marketing man’s dream.
The documentary features contributions from Rio Ferdinand, Phil Neville, Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, plus the man himself.
‘Cristiano Ronaldo: Footballing Superstar’ airs on ITV4 at 10.00pm on Tuesday, October 1 – WATCH TRAILER HERE
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10.00pm-11.00pm ITV4
ITV′s live match coverage, as well additional video clips, interviews and analysis, is available to watch for free via the ITV football website.
Sky Sports subscribers can follow every Champions League match via the Sky Sports Events Centre.
Keep up to date with all the latest UEFA Champions League reports, goal flashes and results by following ITV Football on Twitter (@itvfootball) and Sky Sports dedicated UCL feed (@SkySportsCL).
Online streaming available to UK users only
