Champions League preview

Benitez: Pivotal week

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Group E
Debrecen v Fiorentina
Liverpool v Lyon
Group F
Barcelona v Rubin Kazan
Inter Milan v Dynamo Kiev
Group G
Rangers v Unirea Urziceni
Stuttgart v Sevilla
Group H
AZ Alkmaar v Arsenal
Olympiakos v Standard Liege

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Teams

• AZ Alkmaar
• Arsenal

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  • Barcelona
  • Fiorentina
  • Inter Milan
  • Liverpool
  • Olympique Lyonnais
  • Rangers
  • Sevilla
  • VfB Stuttgart

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• Champions League on Sky
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Liverpool and Rangers are in urgent need of victory in the UEFA Champions League, while Arsenal can extend their 100 per cent start.

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Liverpool find themselves at a pivotal point in their season and they must halt a run of three successive defeats in all competitions when Lyon arrive at Anfield.

Their limp reverse away to Fiorentina in Italy was followed by further setbacks on the road in the Premier League to Chelsea and Sunderland.

A return to Anfield should provide a welcome lift for Rafa Benitez's men, who will have captain Steven Gerrard back in action, although star striker Fernando Torres remains sidelined through injury.

The Reds will have to be on their guard against the French giants, with Claude Puel's men still to concede a goal in their Group E campaign, although they did suffer a shock Ligue 1 defeat at home to Sochaux at the weekend.

Fiorentina travel to Hungary to tackle Debrecen, with the Champions League newcomers still to find their feet in the competition after back-to-back defeats without troubling the scorers.

Koeman test

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has set his sights on back-to-back victories against AZ Alkmaar which would see the Gunners secure their progress from Group H.

The in-form Gunners travel to Holland for Tuesday night's first encounter against the Dutch champions, with the reverse fixture taking place at Emirates Stadium in two weeks' time.

Wenger will go head-to-head with Ronald Koeman once again, with the former Holland international having masterminded Arsenal's downfall in 2007 when he was at the helm of PSV Eindhoven.

Alkmaar have just one point to show from their opening two European outings, and are struggling to find their form domestically, having suffered four defeats in their last five outings.

New Olympiakos coach Zico takes charge of his first home Champions League encounter when Standard Liege travel to Greece in the other Group H game, with the Brazilian's only defeat in five matches coming at Emirates Stadium.

Thumped

Rangers were handed something of a Champions League lesson in their last European outing and need to record their first victory in Group G when Unirea Urziceni arrive at Ibrox.

The Romanian outfit, managed by former Chelsea defender Dan Petrescu, are also yet to claim their maiden success but will be boosted by their home draw against Stuttgart last time out, while Walter Smith's men were thumped 4-1 by Sevilla.

Sevilla are the only team in Group G to have tasted victory and have the opportunity to cement their position at the summit of the table and put one foot into the knockout round when they travel to the VfB Arena to tackle Stuttgart.

Group F has proved to be the most keenly contested in this year's tournament, with champions and leaders Barcelona only three points ahead of bottom club Rubin Kazan ahead of their encounter at Camp Nou.

Inter Milan, who have now not won a European fixture in almost a year, have the opportunity to end that unhappy seven-game run when Dynamo Kiev travel to the home of the Italian champions.

The match will mark a reunion between former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and ex-Blues striker Andriy Shevchenko, with the Ukraine international guaranteed a hostile reception at the San Siro due to his career with city rivals AC Milan.