The knockouts in sight - UEFA Champions League 9 December 2020

FC Bayern München vs. Lokomotiv Moscow

Bayern are already through to the Round of 16 and Lokomotiv is already out. Yet this game still has to be played and may be an opportunity for Bayern's second string to show off before the international season heads for the christmas break:

SU7187 VKO 1700-1835 MUC A320 (07/12/20)

SU7186 MUC 1335-1710 VKO A320 (10/12/20)

FC Salzburg vs. Atlético Madrid

The fact that Atlético conceded a late goal against Bayern in the previous game means that Salzburg is still in the running for a spot in next year's knockout stage. A place in the Europa League awaits in case that they will not win the game against the Colchoneros however:

UX1903 MAD xxxx-1335 SZG B738 (08/12/20)

UX2003 SZG 1100-xxxx MAD B738 (10/12/20)

Internazionale vs. Shakhtar Donezk

Group B is the tightest of affairs in this season's Champions League so far, with all four teams in the running for the spots in the Champions League round of 16 or the Europa League round of 32. Inter will have to make sure that they win against Shakhtar Donezk though, as this is the only way for them to make sure that they still have any hope of going anywhere internationally in spring. Shakhtar will arrive from Kyiv with SkyUp Airlines.

PQ2505 KBP xxxx-1135 MXP B737 (08/12/20)

PQ2506 MXP 0105-xxxx KBP B737 (10/12/20)

Real Madrid vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach

The Germans are traveling to Madrid, looking to book a place in the round of 16, while Real is looking to make up for not just one, but two defeats at the hands of Shakhtar Donzek in previous rounds. For Mönchengladbach, a point is enough to go through, while in case of a draw, Real would have to hope for an Inter win over Shakhtar. Borussia Mönchengladbach will travel to Madrid with TUI:

TUI8958 DUS 1400-1640 MAD B738 (08/12/20)

TUI8959 MAD 1110-1340 DUS B738 (10/12/20)

Olympiacos Piraeus vs. FC Porto

BRO20 OPO 1445-xxxx ATH B733 G-SWRD (08/12/20)

BRO21 ATH xxxx-0430 OPO B733 G-SWRD (10/12/20)

BRO21 OPO 0530-xxxx STN B733 G-SWRD (10/12/20, ferry flt)

Manchester City vs. Olympique Marseille

(info courtesy AlphaFive on Facebook)

City are already through and OM only have a place in the Europa League to play for, in a distance duel with Olympiacos who are level on points. OM finally scored their first two goals this week and will hope to find some more success against Pep Guardiola's side in Manchester:

VOE9282 MRS xxxx-1630 MAN A319 EC-MTF (08/12/20)

VOE9283 MAN 2345-xxxx(+1) MRS A319 EC-MTF (09/12/20)

Ajax FC vs. Atalanta Bergamo

Atalanta brought themselves back into contention with an away win at Liverpool, but a disappointing draw at home against Midtjylland could yet prove to be too much to overcome in this group. Atalanta will travel as usual, on an Enter Air Boeing 737-800:

ENT531 BGY 1000-1130 AMS B738 (08/12/20)

ENT532 AMS 2230-2359 BGY B738 (09/12/20)

Real at San Siro and more - UEFA Champions League 25 November 2020

Titan Airways A321 at Tenerife Sur in December 2019

Borussia Mönchengladbach vs. Shakhtar Donezk

The German team had more than just a great game against an opponent that seemed badly hampered by many COVID-19 cases, as is the case with many Ukraine teams at the moment. 6-0 to Mönchengladbach was the scoreline in Kharkiv in October. It remains to be seen whether Shakhtar can turn the trend around in time. They will travel from Kyiv to Düsseldorf on a SkyUp Boeing 737-700, possibly the one in their own club colours.

PQ2503 KBP 0945-1125 DUS B737 (24/11/20)

Atlético Madrid vs. Lokomotiv Moscow

The "Rojiblancos" have not really taken off yet in this year's campaign and to draw the away game in Moscow was possibly not the best idea either. They will get the chance to make up for this slip-up when they play Lokomotiv at home, at the Wanda Metropolitano. Lok Moscow will arrive two days before the game on an Aeroflot Airbus A320:

SU7386 VKO 1600-1830 MAD B738 VP-BZB (23/11/20)

SU7387 MAD 1040-1710 VKO B738 (26/11/20)

Internazionale vs. Real Madrid

Real find themselves with the backs against the wall, after an uncharacteristic home loss against the badly COVID-19-struck Shakhtar Donezk. Traveling to the mighty San Siro will be a real test for a side that might even be without Sergio Ramos, who not only missed two penalties on national team duty, but also returned to the Real camp with an injury that he picked up in the epic 6-0 win over Germany. Real will travel to Italy with Iberia as usual:

IB2800 MAD xxxx-1240 MXP A320 (24/11/20)

IB2801 MXP 0030-xxxx MAD A320 (26/11/20)

Iberia oneworld Airbus A320 seen at Madrid in March 2020

Olympique Marseille vs. FC Porto

The home side has the distinction of not having scored a single goal so far in this edition of the Champions League. They will look to change this against a Porto side that could make a decisive step towards the round of 16. Porto will travel to the South of France with 2Excel Aviation:

BRO21P STN xxxx-1700 OPO B733 G-SWRD (23/11/20, ferry flt)

BRO21 OPO 1530-xxxx MRS B733 G-SWRD (24/11/20)

BRO21 MRS xxxx-0230 OPO B733 G-SWRD (26/11/20)

Liverpool FC vs. Atalanta Bergamo

Atalanta will travel to a Liverpool side that might soon have more points than players available, if Jürgen Klopp's statements in the media are anything to go by. Liverpool has won all three games so far and comes off a 3-0 win against Leicester City in the Premier League. Atalanta looks to be in a battle with Ajax over the second spot in this group.

ENT59KG OLB 1150-1230 BGY B738 SP-ESF (24/11/20, ferry flt)

ENT14ZY WAW 1400-1545 BGY B738 SP-ENO (24/11/20, ferry flt)

ENT531 BGY 1500-1550 LPL B738 SP-ENO (24/11/20)

ENT532 LPL 0930-xxxx BGY B738 SP-ENO (26/11/20)

It appears that the flight was initially meant to be done by SP-ESF that subsequently became unavailable. At short notice, SP-ENO was brought in from Warsaw, Enter Air's main base.

Olympiacos Piraeus vs. Manchester City

City are traveling out to Greece rather late, using a Titan Airways Airbus A321 to take them to Athens.

ZT7771 MAN 1500-2100 ATH A321 G-POWN (24/11/20)

ZT7772 ATH 0030-xxxx MAN A321 G-POWN (26/11/20)

Atalanta on the move! - Champions League Group Stage Matchday 3

I may have been out of action for a few weeks, but that was because there was no time available. I have been following things a bit, but unfortunately I missed on reporting about the Air Caraïbes A330s in Liverpool the other week. There are some nice things moving about this week again though, with particularly the travelling support for Atalanta Bergamo looking really substantial:

22 October 2019

Shakhtar Donezk vs. Dinamo Zagreb

The Ukrainian team plays its home games in Kharkiv still, with Donezk obviously not deemed safe enough after all the trouble with Russia.

OU8358 ZAG 1040-xxxx HRK A320 9A-CTK  (21/10/19)

OU8358 ZAG 2030-2330 HRK A320 9A-CTJ (22/10/19, ferry flt)
OU8359 HRK xxxx-xxxx ZAG A320 9A-CTJ (23/10/19)

Galatasaray Istanbul vs. Real Madrid

The White Ballet made its way to Istanbul with a point to prove. Real are no strangers to using big aircraft for their away travel, so rocking up in Turkey with an A340? Why not!

IB2800 MAD 0900-1410 IST A346 EC-JFK (21/10/19)
IB2801 IST 1630-1915 MAD A346 EC-JFX (21/10/19, ferry flt)
IB2800 MAD 1915-0015(+1) IST A346 EC-JFX (22/10/19, ferry flt)
IB2801 IST 0205-0535 MAD A346 EC-JFX (23/10/19)

Atlético Madrid vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Bayer are off to the mighty Atlético Madrid, once again using TUI, this time from Cologne, where they also travelled from Düsseldorf in the past.

TUI8952 CGN xxxx-1330 MAD B738 D-ABKI  (21/10/19)

Olympiacos Piraeus vs. FC Bayern München

The German serial champions used to impress at quite a few places using Airbus A340-600s or even A350-900s recently. Now they revert back to type (i.e. boring the proverbial out of the punters) and travel down to Greece on what feels like a convoi of Lufthansa A321s.

LH2570 MUC 1035-1400 ATH A321 D-AIDD (21/10/19)

LH2572 MUC 1030-1355 ATH A321 D-AIDC (21/10/19)

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Red Star Belgrade

The champions of Serbia are off to London with their national carrier of course, but the Youth League commitments also mean that a second plane is required along with the A320.

JU9024 BEG 1000-xxxx LTN A320 YU-APK (21/10/19)

KRP3085 BEG 1000-xxxx LTN F100 YR-FKA (21/10/19)

Manchester City vs. Atalanta Bergamo

Novices to the Champions League, Atalanta have a large travelling support. The fact that Bergamo is quite a few miles away from the big airports of Milan should help the air traffic to Manchester. The fans are travelling with AlbaStar, Enter Air, Neos and Air Horizont:

AP5935 BGY 1100-1150 MAN B738 EC-NAB (21/10/19)

ENT596 BGY xxxx-0855 MAN B738
AP7737 MXP xxxx-0910 MAN B738

AP5443 BGY xxxx-0950 MAN B738

ENT556 BGY xxxx-1005 MAN B738
BV8842 BGY xxxx-1015 MAN B738

NO2270 BGY xxxx-1015 MAN B738

HAT4007 BGY xxxx-1015 MAN B734

ENT591 BGY xxxx-1035 MAN B738
TDR322 BGY xxxx-1230 MAN F100 9A-BTE

Juventus Turin vs. Lokomotiv Moscow

Lokomotiv decided to put the long way from Moscow to Turin behind them a day early, so they arrived in Piemonte on Sunday already:

GZP149 VKO 1730-xxxx TRN B737 RA-73004 (20/10/19)
GZP150 TRN 1500-xxxx VKO B737 RA-73004 (23/10/19)

UEFA CL, GS MD6, 11 December 2018

11 December 2018

Group A

Club Brugge vs. Atlético Madrid

There is only the group winner's spot at stake in this game, with Atlético already bound for the Round of 16 and Brugge to continue this season's European adventures in the Europa League Round of 32:

UX1903 MAD 1200-1400 OST B738 (10/12/18)

UX2003 OST 0115-0320 MAD B738 (12/12/18)

AS Monaco vs. Borussia Dortmund

The French team is not only struggling in the league this season, but also in the Champions League. Dortmund on the other hand has secured a spot in the knock-out stage already and will look to finish the group stage on a high, before going into the European winter break:

EW1909 DTM xxxx-1240 NCE A320 D-AIZR (10/12/18)
EW5205 DTM xxxx-1250 NCE A320 (10/12/18)
EW1909 NCE 1145-xxxx DTM A320 D-AIZR (12/12/18)
EW5205 NCE 1200-xxxx DTM A320 (12/12/18)

Group B

FC Barcelona vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs travel to Barcelona in the knowledge that most probably they will have to win this last fixture to make the round of 16 in 2019. This task will be a difficult one though, with Barcelona unbeaten at home in European competitions for a number of years now:

ZT1611 STN xxxx-1605 BCN B752 (10/12/18)

LS6758 STN 0700-1010 BCN B738

LS6681 STN 0715-1025 BCN B738

LS6695 STN 0730-1040 BCN B738

LS6682 BCN 0030-xxxx STN B738 (12/12/18)

LS6759 BCN 0045-xxxx STN B738 (12/12/18)

ZT1612 BCN 0120-xxxx STN B752 (12/12/18)

LS6696 BCN 1330-xxxx STN B738 (12/12/18)

Internazionale vs. PSV Eindhoven

PSV is already eliminated, but will look to end this year's European campaign on a high, away at San Siro, which will probably a fairly difficult task.

AP5785 EIN 1030-xxxx MXP B738 (10/12/18)
TB9121 EIN 1030-xxxx MXP B738 (10/12/18)

Group C

Red Star Belgrade vs. Paris St-Germain

The French-Arabian giants from the edge of the Bois de Boulogne in Paris travel to Belgrade, where surely they will face a feisty atmosphere. PSG would be best off with a positive result, because otherwise they are dependent on the outcome of the parallel match between Napoli and Liverpool.

DJT510 ORY 1200-1410 BEG B752 (10/12/18)
ENT567 CDG 1200-1410 BEG B738 SP-ESD (11/12/18)
MYX8567 CDG 1245-1455 BEG A320 ES-SAO (11/12/18)
DJT511 BEG 0145-0355 CDG B752 (12/12/18)
ENT536 BEG 0320-0530 CDG B738 (12/12/18)
MYX8598 BEG 0330-0540 CDG A320 (12/12/18)
ENT568 BEG 0350-0600 CDG B738 (12/12/18)

The return flight of La Compagnie will go to Paris CDG, because during the night, flight operations at Orly in the South of Paris are suspended.

Liverpool FC vs. SSC Napoli

For this most eagerly anticipated encounter at Anfield Road, the Italian side will arrive with AlbaStar and one of their Boeing 737-800s. Mind you, it is Liverpool that absolutely needs a positive result here:

AP5697 NAP xxxx-1215 LPL B738 (10/12/18)
ED4430 NAP xxxx-1530 LPL B738 (11/12/18)
ED4431 LPL 0300-xxxx NAP B738 (12/12/18)

Group D

FC Schalke 04 vs. Lokomotiv Moscow

Despite the early kickoff at 18.55h, Lokomotiv will only leave from Münster-Osnabrück deep into the night time:

GZP153 VKO 1615-1730 DUS B737 RA-73004 (09/12/18)
GZP153 DUS 1800-1845 FMO B737 RA-73004 (09/12/18, ferry flt)
GZP154 FMO 0030-xxxx VKO B737 RA-73004 (12/12/18)

Galatasaray Istanbul vs. FC Porto

HFM001P BYJ 1615-1700 OPO A343 (08/12/18, ferry flt)

HFM672 OPO 1300-xxxx IST A343 (09/12/18)

HFM632 IST xxxx-0240 OPO A343 (12/12/18)

HFM002P OPO 0720-0800 BYJ A343 (12/12/18, ferry flt)

UEFA CL, GS MD5, 28 November 2018

28 November 2018

Group A

Atlético Madrid vs. AS Monaco

Atlético host a Monaco team in deep trouble at the Wanda Metropolitano. The French club has clearly lost it and is just battling away to maybe save its face into the Europa League round of 32:

ENT501 NCE 1000-1050 MAD B738 (27/11/18)

ENT502 MAD 0100-0215 NCE B738 (29/11/18)

Group B

PSV Eindhoven vs. FC Barcelona

Already qualified for the Champions League knock-out stage once more, Barcelona might even rest some key players for the trip to the Netherlands. PSV on the other hand has just the Europa League round of 32 to play for:

UX937 BCN 1000-xxxx EIN B738 (27/11/18)

ENT566 BCN 0815-xxxx LGG B738 (28/11/18)

UX938 LGG xxxx-0325 BCN B738 (29/11/18)

ENT567 LGG xxxx-0340 BCN B738 (29/11/18)

Group C

Paris St-Germain vs. Liverpool FC

A bit surprisingly, Group C has proven to be really competitive, not least because of PSG and Liverpool tripping up when they were not expected to do so. Liverpool will now surely have to look to beat PSG for a second time, though this time at the Parc des Princes:

ZT1602 LPL 1420-1640 CDG B752 (27/11/18)

BY8150 MAN 0740-1020 CDG B738 (28/11/18)

ZT1604 CDG 2355-0015(+1) LPL B752 (28/11/18)

BY8151 CDG 0125-0145 MAN B738 (29/11/18)

Group D

Lokomotiv Moscow vs. Galatasaray Istanbul

An away draw may be enough for Galatasaray to clinch the Europa League in 2019, but if they get more, they may still dream of beating Schalke 04 to a round of 16 spot in the Champions League:

TK3344 IST 1130-1355 VKO A333 (27/11/18)

TK3345 VKO 0115-0340 IST A333 (29/11/18)

UEFA CL, GS MD3, 24 October 2018

Group A

Club Brugge vs. AS Monaco

XK830 NCE 0930-xxxx OST A320 (23/10/18)

XK831 OST xxxx-0140 NCE A320 (25/10/18)

Group B

FC Barcelona vs. Internazionale

AZ9018 MXP xxxx-1645 BCN A321 (23/10/18)

AZ9019 BCN 0015-xxxx MXP A321 (25/10/18)

Group C

Paris St-Germain vs. SSC Napoli

AZ9016 NAP 1005-1220 CDG A321 (23/10/18)

VBB3203 NAP 0945-1200 CDG B733 (24/10/18)

AZ9017 CDG 1100-1315 NAP A321 (25/10/18)

VBB3204 CDG 1405-1620 NAP B733 (25/10/18)

Group D

Lokomotiv Moscow vs. FC Porto

HFM001P BYJ 1730-1815 OPO A343 (21/10/18, ferry flt)

HFM612 OPO 1400-xxxx SVO A343 (22/10/18)

HFM641 SVO xxxx-0715 OPO A343 (25/10/18)

HFM002P OPO 0845-0930 BYJ A343 (25/10/18, ferry flt)