Robert Rowan runs the rule over the pick of this week's matches . . .
Tuesday
Roma v Bayern Munich
The destiny of Group E hinges on the ties between the Serie A side and the Bundesliga champions. Both have started their domestic and European campaigns impressively and will be looking to all-but guarantee qualification with a victory tonight. Bayern supporters were delighted to see Franck Ribery return to action during the 6-0 demolishing of Werder Bremen and I can say with some certainty that Roma's scouting team will be struggling to identify a weakness in the Bayern squad - how do you stop a front line of Ribery, Thomas Mueller, Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski?
Roma, though, have started very well themselves and are only one point behind Juventus at the top. They have conceded just four goals domestically this season and three of those were against the league leaders so there is little doubt they are a solid proposition defensively. Ashley Cole appears to be an astute signing and has adapted very quickly to Italian football. Francesco Totti has been the main man again this season connecting the midfield to the attack while weighing in with crucual goals.
I fancy Bayern to take the three points and conquer Europe this season.
Wednesday
Liverpool v Real Madrid
I'm sticking my neck out here but if Liverpool don't pick up any points from both games against Real Madrid they will be knocked out. Having watched them a lot this season and most recently on Sunday against QPR, I've not been impressed at all and I'm not certain they will finish in the top six this season. The loss of Luis Suarez has been exacerbated by the decision to replace him with Mario Balotelli. The defence looks as vulnerable as ever despite the signing of Dejan Lovren. I think this may be down to Simon Mignolet but whomever is a fault they will need to step up against Real Madrid.
The most worrying aspetc for Liverpool is that Real Madrid are just finding form after a poor start. Cristiano Ronaldo has been in phenomenal form again this season and Liverpool are unlikely to fine a way to stop him. Even if they do work out a strategy, they will need to find another to stop James Rodriguez, Isco, Toni Kroos and Javier Hernandez.
I'm confident Real Madrid will win this fixture by at least two goals.
Robert Rowan is scouting coordinator with English Championship side Brentford and has worked previously for Celtic and the Scottish Football Association.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article