After a loaded Tuesday of fixtures in the UEFA Champions League, Wednesday's fixture list is a little less eye-popping. Such is the nature of having three Champions Route fixtures and two League Route fixtures when the reverse was the case yesterday. We're covering Bayern Munich vs. FC Zurich in its own dedicated stream, but this will be your home for the other four fixtures. Odense vs. Villarreal is the highlight, but the other games will be getting some love as well.
UEFA Champions League Playoff Round: Villarreal, Others In Action Wednesday
Bayern Munich vs. FC Zurich gets its own dedicated place for coverage, but here’s your one stop shop for all of the other Champions League games on Wednesday.
All games start at 2:45 pm ET, 7:45 pm ET. You’ll have to check local listings for TV info, but if DirecTV is your service provider in the USA, you should be able to watch every game. Also, these games are all available on FoxSoccer.tv.
League Route
Odense vs. Villarreal
It’s been a serious offseason of change in Villarreal. Santi Carzola and Joan Capdevilla have moved on, while star defender Cristian Zapata has joined from Udinese. Many of the core players are still around (Guiseppe Rossi isn’t gone yet!), but it will be interesting to see how they get on without two of their most important players of the last few years. Odense did well to get by Panathinaikos, so they will be no walkover for the Yellow Submarine.
Champions Route
Dinamo Zagreb vs. Malmo FF
Malmo FF defeated Rangers to get through to this stage, delighting the SPL haterade drinkers everywhere. Dinamo Zagreb did the expected when they advanced past HJK Helsinki and will now face a serious step up in competition. Keep an eye out for Dinamo’s Milan Badelj, who should be moving on to a much bigger club in the near future.
Maccabi Haifa vs. Racing Genk
If you were going to tune in to this match to watch the delightful Kevin De Bruyne, sorry! He’s injured and will be out for a while. However, Genk still have a couple of other quality young players in Jelle Vossen and Anthony Vanden Boore, who doesn’t feel that young anymore. Maccabi Haifa should be mildly overmatched in talent, but they have plenty of experience in European competition.
Wisla Krakow vs. APOEL Nicosia
Both Wisla and APOEL got through entirely average teams in the last round of the competition, so it’s difficult to judge them both relative to the rest of the competition and relative to each other. What we do know is that this tie is absolutely massive for Cyprus. They’re very close into breaking into the Top 15 leagues in Europe, and therefore gaining another Champions League place.
See More:
