Real Madrid seeks fourth straight Champions League win at AEK Athens on 4 November

The fixture

Real Madrid visit AEK Athens on Wednesday, 4 November, in matchday four of the Champions League league phase, with kickoff at 18:45. The match is at the Allwyn Arena, the stadium in the Nea Filadelfeia district north of the Greek capital that is also known as the Agia Sofia and OPAP Arena. It stands on the site of the Nikos Goumas stadium, which was used from 1930 until its demolition in 2003, and sources give its capacity as 32,500 spectators. AEK are coached by Marko Nikolić and have won all seven matches they have played at the ground, conceding only one goal there.

Real Madrid's momentum

Real Madrid have won all three of their Champions League matches so far, beating Inter 2-1, winning 3-4 at Roma and beating RB Leipzig 4-1 at home on 21 October. In La Liga they beat Barcelona 2-1 at Camp Nou on 25 October, with Kylian Mbappé scoring twice in the Clásico. They followed that with a 3-0 win at Racing Santander on 1 November, which left them three points behind Barcelona at the top of the league. Sources describe the team's level of play as the best of the season since Vinicius Junior stopped playing.

Vinicius and the rotations

Vinicius Junior returns to the starting XI for the Champions League game, although he is still serving a suspension that keeps him out of league matches. The ban followed an altercation in the match against Villarreal. José Mourinho has announced changes to the line-up, and Carreras and Rüdiger may take starting places. According to La Razón, Arda and Tchouameni have not travelled to Athens and will be rested. Madrid's next league game is at Valencia's Mestalla on Saturday, 7 November.

AEK's form and threats

AEK have three points from three matches, their only win coming in a 1-0 home victory over LASK on 8 September. They then lost 3-1 away at Shakhtar Donetsk on 14 October and 5-1 away at Manchester City on 20 October. El Mundo reports that AEK have won only one of their last five matches, although they have won every game at home. Luka Jović, a former Real Madrid player who scored three goals and provided five assists in 51 appearances for the club, is their most dangerous attacker.

Previous meetings

The two clubs have met four times, with two draws and one win each, according to La Razón. The 1985-86 UEFA Cup tie ended 1-0 to AEK in Athens, before Real Madrid won 5-0 at the Bernabéu to turn the tie around. In the 2002-03 group phase the matches finished 3-3 in Athens, where Zinedine Zidane scored twice and Guti once, and 2-2 in Madrid. El Periódico notes that Madrid have never won at AEK's ground and have won only one of their eight visits to the Greek capital. Fede Valverde is again tipped to play at full-back, and Mourinho's comments on the squad were as follows:

“The squad was built thinking of Valverde as a midfielder, with two other specific and different full-backs.”

Mourinho added that he is happy with Valverde at full-back, while the team needs him in midfield.

What is at stake

A Madrid win would give them 12 points from four matches, which La Razón says would virtually secure a place in the playoffs. AEK, who need points, sit in the lower part of the table according to RTVE. In Spain the match is available live on the Movistar Liga de Campeones channel on Movistar Plus+.