Champions League LIVE: Build-up, team news, scores & text updates including Galatasaray vs Liverpool & Chelsea vs Benfica

Lights out in Istanbul

Galatasaray v Liverpool (20:00 BST)

Phil McNulty

BBC Sport chief football writer in Istanbul

Still two hours to go before kick-off between Galatasaray and Liverpool at Rams Park but the lights have just been dimmed inside the stadium and deafening anthems started blaring out over the public address system.

It is full of atmosphere already and there are hardly any fans in the stadium yet.

Can Pafos keep out Kane and Bayern?

Pafos v Bayern Munich (20:00 BST)

It's an historic night in Cyprus as Pafos welcome German giants Bayern Munich to town in their first ever home game in the Champions League proper.

The Cypriots have already got a point on the board after securing an impressive 0-0 draw at Olympiakos on matchday one, having played over 65 minutes with 10 men after Bruno Felipe's red card.

However tonight's task is on another level entirely. Bayern arrive in imperious form, having lost just three of their last 49 group stage/league phase games.

They also have England captain Harry Kane firing on all cylinders up top, with 12 goals and three assists to his name already this season.

'I will always be a Blue'

Chelsea v Benfica (20:00 BST)

Nizaar Kinsella

BBC Sport Chelsea reporter

Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho told the media in Monday's Champions League news conference: "I am not a blue any more. I am red now and I want to win."

Speaking in Stamford Bridge's Drake Suite, which has three photos of him and celebrates the title-winning matches, he was very matter of fact about his return to the Bridge and how theBlues are simply Benfica's opponents.

"It's not so deep to be back here because I live in London and am used to going past here every day," he said. "I have been back here with three different teams – Benfica is my fourth."

But when pressed about his time at the club and his legacy, he added: "Of course, I will always be a Blue. I am part of their history and they are part of my history.

"I helped them to become a bigger Chelsea and they helped me to become a bigger Jose.

"When I say I am not a Blue, I hope everybody understands that I am speaking about the job that I have to do. But in relation to these pictures, there are not many clubs that do this, because in many, many clubs it looks like there is a fear of what happened in the past and there is a continuous transformation of pictures.

"Sometimes it looks like they want to delete people that made history in the clubs.

"I don't think Chelsea fans will boo me because, at least on the street, they are the ones that disturb me for pictures and autographs."

Spurs opt to not train on plastic pitch

Bodo/Glimt v Tottenham (20:00 BST)

Something Tottenham must conquer tonight is the artificial pitch in Norway.

Spurs did play and win on this very pitch in May but they opted not to train on the plastic surface.

Boss Thomas Frank said: "If we have training here [Norway] and we want to do a little bit of tactical [work], it would be a little bit more obvious what we would do.

"I know the surface is different. If you really want to get used to it you need to train here day in, day out as Bodo do. We are ready for that challenge but, for me, it was the tactical reason."

'We are in Champions League mode'

Kairat v Real Madrid (17:45 BST)

Real Madrid

Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso believes his side can soon move on from their 5-2 derby defeat by Atletico Madrid at the weekend.

Julian Alvarez scored twice as Atletico came from behind to claim a dominant derby win on Saturday and hand Real their first La Liga defeat of the season.

Alonso admitted that while his side “didn’t compete well enough”, they must now turn their attention to Champions League action.

“I think that both in victory and defeat we have to last for 24 hours, the feeling, for better or for worse. Then obviously we make analyses,” Alonso told reporters in a pre-match press conference on Monday.

"It’s not just the attitude, it was rhythm and also tactical things that we have analysed, things about the game.

“I don’t just explain everything with attitude, that’s a bit simplistic, but things we have to improve at the level of play, at the level of solutions and at the level of rhythm to compete better.

“We didn’t compete well enough – 24 hours have passed, we have done an analysis, it has stayed inside so we can use it and now we are already in Champions League mode.”

'No obvious weaknesses' - Kairat boss on Real Madrid

Kairat v Real Madrid (17:45 BST)

Kairat boss Rafael Urazbakhtin hopes his side can find form similar to their qualifying campaign ahead of a tough test against Real Madrid.

The Kazakhstan side’s qualification campaign culminated with a penalty shoot-out win against Celtic in the play-offs last month, but they were beaten 4-1 by Sporting in their first game of the league phase.

“Real Madrid don’t have any obvious weaknesses. We found a few small things, but every team has those,” said Urazbakhtin. “We’ll try to build on what we saw. We have a strong team spirit and are well organised. We’ll try to play like we did in qualifying. A lot depends on our fans.”

Tuesday’s game is Real’s second Champions League fixture this season after beating Marseille 2-1 in their opener earlier this month, where two successful Kylian Mbappe penalties proved to be the difference.

Real boss Xavi Alonso added: “We are still in the construction phase, in the phase of improving. I don’t know how long it will last, but we are still taking steps forward. And to take two steps forward even sometimes you have to take one step back.

“We want to keep improving, we want to keep defining how we want to be, both on a football level and on a team personality level. That’s where we’ll be able to improve.”

Why are Kazakhstan part of Uefa?

Ask Me Anything

Ask Me Anything

Kairat Almaty make their home debut in the league phase of the Champions League tonight against Real Madrid.

BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team has been looking at one of this season's competition debutants...

Why are Kazakhstan part of Uefa?

Kazakhstan have been part of Uefa since April 2002, and its clubs and nations have competed in Uefa competitions ever since.

After the USSR was dissolved 1992, the Independent Football Association of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Fark) was formed. Kazakhstan joined Fifa and the AFC, Asia's governing body, in 1994.

But after Fark reformed to the Football Federation of Kazakhstan (KFF) in 2000, the KFF campaigned to switch to Uefa, due to part of their territory being in Europe.

In 2001, KFF left the AFC and became members of Uefa a year later.

Kazakhstan's first qualifying campaign as part of Uefa came in the 2006 World Cup, but they are yet to qualify for a World Cup or European Championship since joining.

Read our full explainer piece here

13-hour flight and future Chelsea wonderkid

Kairat Almaty v Real Madrid (17:45 BST)

Nizaar Kinsella

BBC Sport Football reporter

No team faces greater travel demands or will be asked to upset the odds more this Champions League campaign than Kairat Almaty, as the debutants host Real Madrid in a historic first home fixture on Tuesday.

Kairat crossed three time zones and a record-breaking 6,900km for their first match, losing 4-1 to Sporting in Lisbon, Portugal two weeks ago.

However, facing 15-time European champions Real Madrid is even more daunting, though their location could now level the playing field.

Xabi Alonso's visitors will themselves travel 6,441km to play at the 24,000-seater Ortalyq Stadion, which is technically in central Asia.

Almaty, Kazakhstan's former southern capital, is closer to Beijing than Madrid. The Spanish giants, meanwhile, have to fly for 13 hours to reach Almaty, a flight five hours longer than it would take to reach New York.

Read more about Real's visit to Kairat on the BBC Sport website

Click here to read article