WELCOME TO THE BEST EUROPEAN CLUB COMPETITION, WELCOME TO THE CHAAAAAAAAAAAAMPIONS LEAAAAAAAAAGUE!! Today marks the start of the second round of this new edition, with the group stage in which each team will play seven matches, having already played one of them. Stuttgart and Sparta Prague will face each other this afternoon at 18:45 at the MHPArena with the goal of achieving victory to have options to qualify for the next phase.
Stuttgart lost their first match against Real Madrid (3-1) but showed a great performance and was superior to Carlo Ancelotti’s team during several phases of the match. Only Courtois prevented the German club from taking the lead several times on the scoreboard, but two errors from Nübel kept the Germans from taking anything positive from the Santiago Bernabéu.
Sparta Prague won at home in their debut in this edition of the Champions League with a 3-0 victory over RB Salzburg, a regular in European club competition. Kairinen, Olatunji, and Laci scored the goals for the Czechs, allowing them to earn their first three points of this edition and their first victory in the competition since 2003. In their national competitions, the hosts drew 2-2 against Wolfsburg, while the visitors lost 2-3 against Sigma Olomouc.