Chelsea v Galatasaray (Network 2, kick-off: 7.45)
If Galatasaray are half as good on the attack as their coach Fatih Terim proved yesterday, Chelsea are in for a tough night. To say Terim is mildly upset with British hospitality is like suggesting Gianluca Vialli's team can expect a cool reception in Istanbul next month.
"I have never seen anything like this," Terim said. "Whatever we have seen here will be returned with interest in Turkey. I'm asking that of my chairman and directors." Judging by Manchester United's experiences, the fans hardly need an invitation.
Given the length of Terim's list of complaints it may be an understatement if the banners greeting Chelsea in three weeks say: "Welcome to the Hell".
For the first time, Terim said, there was no one from the opposition to greet his team and no escort to the hotel "even though we had assurances via a fax from Chelsea that these things will be done".
The club, he added, were given a training ground 45 minutes away and were asked for £250 plus VAT to practise on Sunday night.
Chelsea played down the affair. "We never meet visiting teams at the airport and they never meet us," said the assistant manager Gwyn Williams. Galatasaray had been charged to train, he explained, only because they failed to turn up at Kingstonian as arranged and went to Queens Park Rangers instead. "Anything they would have asked for we would have done."
No one at Stamford Bridge needs reminding of the importance of this game. Having taken only one point from Milan and Hertha Berlin, Vialli acknowledged: "We are running out of time."
Galatasaray, who came from 2-0 down to draw at home to Hertha and were unlucky to lose 2-1 in Milan last week, promise to be formidable in attack. Operating just behind Hakan Sukur and Erdem Arif will be Romania's Gheorghe Hagi, who has scored seven times in nine matches this season.
Little wonder Vialli said his side had to stamp out the lapses that condemned them to successive defeats against Watford and in Berlin. "You can be controlling Hagi and then all of a sudden he might do a little trick and change the game," he explained. "It is the same with Hakan. We cannot afford any little mistakes."
Principally because Chelsea have not scored more than once in eight attempts. But the seven goals Galatasaray have conceded in their past four games suggest defence is not their strong point.
PSV Eindhoven v Rangers
After only two matches in Group F, there will be few places to hide for Rangers or PSV. Each has acquired just a single point so far, leaving the commanding heights to Bayern Munich and Valencia. Tonight's game pitches two men who know the Dutch club backwards against two strikers who may undermine that knowledge.
Dick Advocaat was the PSV manager before he moved to Glasgow and he brought one of his favourites, Arthur Numan, with him. With Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Michael Mols also in their midst, there is not likely to be any cultural misunderstanding in the Philips Stadion.
"Of course they are a different team now. After the last World Cup I went to Rangers, Philip Cocu went to Barcelona and Jaap Stam to Manchester United," Numan says. "They are a bit like ourselves, still trying to put a new side together. But I watch them on a satellite that picks up Dutch TV in Glasgow and they can be brilliant."
Advocaat also understands the challenge. He was in charge for two years before being succeeded by the Belgian Eric Gerets.
The bad news for Rangers is that Luc Nilis is fit for PSV after being told by the club president in no uncertain terms that he was not getting a game until Rangers arrived in town. Nilis and striking partner Ruud van Nistelooij have scored 41 goals in 82 European matches.
They will test Craig Moore and Lorenzo Amoruso in the heart of the Rangers defence, generally considered to be the part of the side that gives most cause for alarm.
