Real Madrid will face Lille in a UEFA Champions League match at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium on Wednesday, October 2, 2024 (02/10/24).

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Here's what you need to know:

What: UEFA Champions League game

WHO: Real Madrid vs LOSC Lille

When: Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024 (10/2/24)

Time: 3 p.m. ET

Where: Pierre Mauroy Stadium Pierre Mauroy Stadium.

TV: TUDN

Station finder: Verizon Fios, Comcast Xfinity,Spectrum/Charter,Optimum/Altice,Cox,DIRECTV,Court,Hulu, fuboTV, loop.

Live stream: fuboTV

AP Soccer History:

Key players will miss Tuesday's resumption of the Champions League after a spate of injuries within a week of the start of the new-look competition.

Kylian Mbappé's sore hamstring is likely to keep him sidelined beyond Wednesday when he returns to France with defending champions Real Madrid to face Lille.

A serious knee injury has ruled out Manchester City midfielder Rodri this season, and Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen will miss at least most of it.

Inter Milan midfielder Nicolò Barella, who stood out against Rodri on September 18, will miss at least one Champions League game with a hamstring strain.

Injuries to four players who played through the knockout stages of the European Championship have heightened the debate over players' workloads in a calendar made even more crowded by the larger Champions League.

The expanded program is what influential clubs have all but forced UEFA to put in place, and this week's 18 games, spread between Tuesday and Wednesday, leaves each of them with six more games left until January.

Another final rematch

In the first game week there were two repeats of previous finals, which relaunched the Champions League in a single-scoring format. Man City and Inter drew 0-0 and Liverpool won 3-1 at AC Milan.

The next return leg is on Wednesday when Aston Villa hosts Bayern Munich, a giant of the European Cup era who were shocked 1-0 in the 1982 final.

Villa Park will host the competition's first game since March 1983, when Juventus ended England's title defense.

Both started successfully two weeks ago. Villa won 3-0 at Young Boys and Bayern's nine goals against Dinamo Zagreb were a record for any team in the 33-season Champions League era.

Harry Kane scored four goals in Bayern's 9-2 win and has a good record in visits to Villa, with five goals in five Premier League games for Tottenham. He faces a late evaluation due to an ankle injury.

Kane defeats Haaland

Kane's quick start to the season with ten goals in seven games for Bayern has even surpassed Erling Haaland's ten goals in eight games for Man City.

Haaland was silenced by Inter for the second time in 16 months, a fact he was reminded of in a post-match conversation with the Italian champions' centre-back Francesco Acerbi, who smiled and held up two fingers.

Haaland should have an easier time in Slovakia on Tuesday when Man City face Slovan Bratislava, who suffered their second-biggest defeat in the opening round, 5-1 at Celtic.

Audience size and enthusiasm of fans

The vibrant atmosphere at Celtic Park for the Scottish champions' rare European Cup victory stood out in an opening week where anticipation was not universal.

Experts, including former Man City goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, noted that the stadium was quiet for the Inter game. Attendance rose by almost 2,000 five days later as Man City took on Arsenal in a turbulent Premier League clash with title ambitions already at stake.

Milan-Liverpool was a heavyweight European game but was far from sold out with fewer than 60,000 spectators at the San Siro. Milan's first two Serie A home games this season drew more than 70,000 spectators each, and on the corresponding opening night of the Champions League last season there were 66,000 to see another English club, Newcastle.

Paris Saint-Germain drew at least 46,000 fans to every home Ligue 1 game this season – and all three Champions League group stage games last season – but two weeks ago fewer than 40,000 were at the Parc des Princes to watch European Debutant Girona can be seen.

Sporting Lisbon also had 40,000 fans at its Champions League opener against Lille, 6,000 fewer than its domestic league game against Porto.

As fans react to the longer and more expensive program of four Champions League home games, trends in attendance and atmosphere will be monitored. In the last two rounds in January, the table of 36 teams is likely to become more dynamic.

The games on Tuesday

The exuberant atmosphere was to follow Celtic all the way to Borussia Dortmund, whose fans in the Yellow Wall stands were among the loudest in Europe.

Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen host Milan after getting off to a fast start with a 4-0 win over Feyenoord. San Siro now returns to Inter to host Red Star Belgrade.

Arsenal host PSG in a clash between two teams fighting for a trophy they have never won. Everyone was once a defeated finalist. Barcelona also hosts the Young Boys.

The games on Wednesday

Even without Mbappé, Madrid will likely be too much for Lille playing in the stadium that hosted basketball group games at the Paris Olympics.

Premier League leaders Liverpool host Bologna and Girona's first European guests at the Montilivi Stadium are Feyenoord.

Dinamo Zagreb fired its coach Sergej Jakirović after the defeat to Bayern and brought back Nenad Bjelica for a second term. He starts in the Champions League against Monaco.

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