The Champions League is back. Europe’s brightest stars will be in action across the continent as the group stage reaches the half-way mark.
Here, Sport360 picks out four players to watch in Tuesday’s fixtures.
JUNIOR MORAES
Club: Shakhtar Donetsk
Position: Forward
2018/19 games/goals: 15/12
Dynamo Kiev must rue the day that Moraes ran down his deal and joined their bitter rivals on a free. A prolific debut season has followed for a Brazilian who is an expert at dribbling and deadly in front of goal. Manchester City beware.
REISS NELSON
Club: Hoffenheim
Position: Forward
2018/19 games/goals: 5/4
Nelson’s move to centre stage in the Bundesliga has been a true success. The teenage loanee’s weekend brace at Nuremberg made it four goals in four games. He was a winger at Arsenal, but he’ll be up top in a 3-5-2 system versus Lyon.
MICHAEL KRMENCIK
Club: Viktoria Plzen
Position: Centre forward
2018/19 games/goals: 14/9
Krmencik has never played outside the Czech Republic, but his name will ring around the world if he gets the goals to definitively end Julen Lopetegui’s sorry reign at Real Madrid. He will look to use his height to unsettle a shaky backline.
ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI
Club: Bayern Munich
Position: Centre forward
2018/19 games/goals: 11/10
For someone of Lewandowski’s repute, a six-game barren spell with club and country is a true rarity. Saturday’s brace at Wolfsburg ended his drought and pointless AEK Athens are up next. The Greeks have let in six UCL goals this term.
