Beginning at 8 P.M. in the Central Sports Stadium at Luzhniki, the defending Russian champion Spartak will try to find a way out of the hole it dug itself last December in the Champions league when it lost to Monaco away and drew with Turkish champion Galatasaray at home.
Barcelona leads Group A in the Champions League on three points with Monaco and Galatasaray tied with two points apiece. Spartak is in last place on one point and has to win Wednesday night to keep alive a slim hope of advancing to the semifinal round.
Barcelona, which went through a slump in January and part of February, is regaining form after impressive wins last week, especially the 3-0 shutout of current Spanish leaders Deportivo on Saturday. Barcelona has not had much success against Russian teams in recent years -- it was knocked out of this competition at home a year ago by the Central Sports Club of the Army (CSKA Moscow) after gaining a 1-1 tie in Moscow -- and has to be wary of a Spartak side that may be rejuvenated from a few months off.
However, much will depend on Spartak coach Oleg Romantsev's ability to get the rust off his team after the winter break.
Elsewhere, six Italian teams and five from Germany spearhead their country's assaults on all three cups, Champion's, the Cup Winner's and the UEFA.
All three competitions are down to the last eight teams, with the Champion's Cup into the third round of matches in the Champions League -- the two-group mini-league system now used to determine the semifinalists.
In all, 24 clubs out of a record 149 entries at the start of the season are still involved. Italy's six representatives are looking to repeat their unique clean-sweep of 1990 when Serie A clubs won all three cups.
An awesome battle of supremacy between the Italian and German champions takes place when AC Milan and Werder Bremen meet at the San Siro stadium Wednesday.
They clash in Group B of the Champions League which Milan, bidding to reach the European Cup Final for the fourth time in six years, leads with three points from their opening two matches.
Werder has two points, the same as Portuguese champion Porto, which reopens its bid to reclaim the trophy it won in 1987 with a visit to Anderlecht of Belgium, currently propping up the group with one point. Group A has Monaco and Galatasaray battling.
In what, on paper at least, promises to be an exciting, open match in the Cup Winner's Cup, holder Parma bids to become the first club ever to win the tournament in successive years with a first leg visit to Ajax in Amsterdam on Thursday.
Benfica plays Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday with Torino hosting Arsenal, the last British representative, on Wednesday and Real Madrid playing Paris St. Germain on Thursday.
UEFA Cup holder Juventus makes the relatively short trip to Sardinia to play Serie A rivals Cagliari on Tuesday, the same night that Internazionale goes to Borussia Dortmund, beaten by Juventus in last season's UEFA final.
Boavista of Portugal faces Karlsruhe on Wednesday night, while Austria Salzburg, who surprised Sporting Lisbon 3-2 on aggregate in the last round after losing the first leg 2-0, will be looking for the scalp of Germans Eintracht Frankfurt. (MT, Reuters)
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