By DAN KARELL
Manchester United have struggled out of the gate in the Premier League, making a big performance in the UEFA Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk even more important.
David Moyes is already under fire due to the defending champions’ start to the season, but he can restore the fan’s expectations to the way they were before with a huge result on the road. Robin Van Persie is fit but is unlikely to start, however Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic should play big roles in the match in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, on the blue side of Manchester, Manchester City take on Bayern Munich in the Champions League for the second year in a row, this time with the Germans as defending European club champions. Both David Silva and Sergio Aguero have returned to the side after being rested last Saturday, while Bayern misses out with Bastian Schweinsteiger due to his injury recovery.
Carlo Ancelotti had a difficult challenge in the Champions League last year after running into Barcelona while he was with Paris-Saint Germain, but his new club Real Madrid can reverse the sorrow from Saturday’s Madrid derby defeat with another commanding European result against FC Copenhagen.
Here is a rundown of today’s UEFA Champions League action:
12pm – Fox Deportes/Fox Soccer Plus – CSKA Moscow vs. Viktoria Plzen
2:45pm – Fox Sports 1 – Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Manchester United
2:45pm – Fox Sports 2 – Manchester City vs. Bayern Munich
2:45pm – Fox Deportes/Fox Soccer Plus – Real Madrid vs. FC Copenhagen
2:45pm – Fox Sports Net/MSG Plus – Juventus vs. Galatasaray
2:45pm – DirecTV/Fox Soccer 2Go – Paris Saint-Germain vs. Benfica
2:45pm – DirecTV/Fox Soccer 2Go – Anderlecht vs. Olympiakos
2:45pm – DirecTV/Fox Soccer 2Go – Bayer Leverkusen vs. Real Sociedad
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Which match are you most looking forward to watching? See any upsets on tap today? Do you see either Manchester club winning?
Share your thoughts below.
Lets go City! Kun with a brace today
Anyone know how long Fox has the Champions league?
Hopefully not much longer…
According to Wikipedia they have the US rights to all UEFA club competitions through next season (2014-15).
Ugh. I wish they would figure out how to do what NBC does for the BPL. Having every game On Demand right after it ends is awesome. Comcast will probably add FS2 in 2015…
Comcast blows. No FS2. They are showing a second game on their local Fox network, but it is the Juve game instead of Man City v Bayern. It’s pathetic I can’t watch the biggest game of the day on tv. I guess I will just have to find a stream
Don’t know if you have Fox Deportes but they’ll be showing the City game at 5 PM. It won’t be live but I guess its better than nothing.
Just tested it…I have an almost $200 monthly Comcast bill, but no access to Fox Deportes. I get BeIn Espanyol, but we don’t have BeIn English or whatever the AMERICAN version is on Comcast. I have the Sports Entertainment package and a litany of other crap, but no FS2. I am so fed up with Comcast….
I have Comast and agree that it’s terrible but I have both versions of Bein through the sports pack. Since they sometimes show different games, I’ve found that useful. Won’t help you today though.
that’s crazy. AT&T U-Verse just puts all those channels under “Sports Package” for $10 a month.
Get Google Fiber, I didn’t purchase the sports package but still have FS2 and all the NBC channels. Gawd I love Google
well if we don’t live in Austin or KC, we can’t. if we did, i think everyone would have Google Fiber. dark fiber FTW!
We have great coverage now for the EPL, thanks to NBC. I wish we had the same for the Champion’s League. Will we need Fox Sports 1,2, plus etc. to watch the knockout stages as well?
I hate that Fox is such a slave to Man U. I don’t get Fox Sports 2 and now have to miss out on the much more intriguing match between Man City and Bayern Munich. Good call there Fox.
yeah, much like the Barca/Celtic game. how is that better than Arsenal/Napoli???