Barcelona midfielder, Ivan Rakitic, hopes Neymar can pick up where he left off against Rayo Vallecano when his side take on Bate Borisov in Minsk on Tuesday.
Neymar warmed up for the Uefa Champions League Group E game against the newly crowned champions of Belarus by scoring four goals on Saturday in a 5-2 win over Rayo.
Barca need Neymar at his best with Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta out injured.
“I hope that Neymar never stops,” Rakitic told his club’s official website. “Hopefully we’ll keep getting him the ball, you’ve got to congratulate him. It always feels good to win, it’s important to score five against a good Rayo.”
Leverkusen v Roma
Bayer Leverkusen have an opportunity to edge closer to a place in the knockout stages by pushing Roma to the brink of elimination.
Roma’s surprise defeat at Bate Borisov means Leverkusen have the chance of putting five points between the two sides with a home victory before travelling to the Stadio Olimpico in two weeks, and that is Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt’s aim.
“We know that Roma are under pressure after their defeat in Borisov,” he said. “After these two matches, there will be a clear tendency as to who will be joining Barca in the knockout stages.”
Porto v Maccabi
Porto will be hoping for a 20th consecutive home victory when they go up against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Group G.
Runners-up in the Primeira Liga last season, Porto go into the match at the Estadio do Dragao unbeaten in all competitions and looking to take another step towards the knockout stages.
Porto drew 2-2 at Dynamo Kiev in their opening Champions League game before beating Chelsea 2-1 at home in the last round.
Coach Julen Lopetegui said: “We want to play well. We hope that the team gives a good showing and that our fans create a Champions League atmosphere. We need the energy from our supporters to win.”
Maccabi have endured a difficult start, losing 4-0 at Chelsea before falling 2-0 to Dynamo Kiev at home.
Zenit v Lyon
Lyon coach, Hubert Fournier, goes into the game at Zenit St Petersburg fearing his team’s campaign will come to an early end if the players do not start to show more freedom on the pitch.
The French side have taken one point from their opening two Group H games and are third in the standings.
Lyon were held to a 1-1 draw by Gent in their pool opener before falling 1-0 at home to Valencia in the last round.
“It’s obvious that it’s hard for us to score these days,” Fournier said. “There were individual and collective shortcomings. I hope we will be better by Tuesday.”
Valencia v Gent
Valencia coach, Nuno, has left Alvaro Negredo out for Tuesday night’s Group H match at home to Gent, the second consecutive game the Spain striker will not feature in.
Media reports have said Nuno is unhappy with comments Negredo made about tactics but the Portuguese underlined yesterday that the decision not to include him was “purely sporting”.
Negredo, 30, left Manchester City in the summer but has yet to reproduce the form that earned him 21 caps, with his most recent appearance for his country coming in November 2013.
He last played for Valencia in the 3-1 La Liga defeat at Athletic Bilbao on October 4 and was omitted for Saturday’s 3-0 victory at home to Malaga.
Zagreb v Olympiakos
Olympiakos midfielder, Esteban Cambiasso, hopes his teammates can build on their surprise victory at Arsenal when they visit Dynamo Zagreb.
The Greek side bounced back from a 3-0 home defeat to Bayern Munich in their Group F opener with a 3-2 win in London last month.
“We scored three goals against Arsenal, which is not an easy task at all,” the 35-year-old former Argentina international said. “We went to Arsenal’s home to play football and not park the bus. This was the key to our success. We not only tried to defend, but also to counter-attack as fast as possible in order to score.”
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