UEFA CL, GS MD3, 23 October 2018

Group E

AEK Athens vs. FC Bayern München

Despite wearing Qatar Airways sponsorship badges on their shirts these days, Bayern are still traveling with Lufthansa on their European journeys, using one of the company's Airbus A340-600s for the trip to Greece once more:

LH2570 MUC 1030-1350 ATH A346 (22/10/18)
LH2571 ATH 1205-1335 MUC A346 (24/10/18)

Ajax Amsterdam vs. SL Benfica

Privilege Style has a habit of carrying teams from Spain all across the continent, but their Portuguese neighbors are no strangers either to the use of the elegantly painted Boeing 757s:

PVG7995 LIS xxxx-1325 AMS B752 EC-HDS (22/10/18)
PVG7996 AMS 1200-xxxx LIS B752 EC-HDS (24/10/18)

Group F

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim vs. Olympique Lyonnais

Arrival airports seem to change in rotation for the visitors of the German club based right next to the A6 motorway in Sinsheim. This time Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden is the port of choice for Olympique Lyonnais, but who could have ruled out a trip within France for them, to either Strasbourg or Colmar-Houssen?

FPO807 LYS 1000-xxxx FKB B737 (22/10/18)
FPO808 FKB xxxx-1405 LYS B737 (24/10/18)

Shakhtar Donezk vs. Manchester City (in Kharkiv)

ZT581 MAN 1500-2100 HRK B752 G-ZAPX (21/10/18)
TCX9062 MAN 0555-1155 HRK A321 (23/10/18)

Group G

AS Roma vs. CSKA Moscow

The Russian army club has a sponsorship with Aeroflot that even includes a plane in the club's colours, so Aeroflot is the logic choice for CSKA's trip to the Italian capital, where they will face AS Roma at the Stadio Olimpico:

SU7004 SVO 1000-1255 FCO A320 (21/10/18)
SU7005 FCO 0130-0600 SVO A320 (24/10/18)

Real Madrid vs. Viktoria Plzen

No great surprises when it comes to the amount of seats on offer for this away trip. Real Madrid may still be the biggest attraction in Champions League football, even if Cristiano Ronaldo has now left the club and moved to Turin. No less than three aircraft will carry Czech players, staff and supporters to Madrid:

OK6106 PRG xxxx-1225 MAD A319 (22/10/18)
QS4570 PRG xxxx-1355 MAD B738 (22/10/18)
QS4540 PRG xxxx-1100 MAD B738 (23/10/18)
QS4571 MAD 0145-xxxx PRG B738 (24/10/18)
QS4541 MAD 0155-xxxx PRG B738 (24/10/18)
OK6107 MAD 1100-xxxx PRG A319 (24/10/18)

Group H

Manchester United vs. Juventus Turin

It is yet another return to an old club for CR7, with Manchester United of course being the club where he first became really famous. His trip was far from certain though, after he conceded a red card in the first Champions League fixture against Valencia early this season.

AZ**** TRN xxxx-1750 MAN A321 (22/10/18)
AZ**** MAN 1100-xxxx TRN A321 (24/10/18)

BSC Young Boys vs. Valencia CF

Bern is always a tricky journey to plan, with the airport notorious for being pested by fog and because of very restrictive night flying regulations. Valencia is thus flying to nearby (100km) Basel, where aircraft movements are not quite as heavily restricted:

YW5011 VLC 1130-1330 BSL CRJX (22/10/18)
YW2001 VLC 1300-1500 BSL CRJ2 (22/10/18)
YW2002 BSL xxxx-0145 VLC CRJ (24/10/18)
YW5012 BSL xxxx-0155 VLC CRJ (24/10/18)