By Tim Stannard

1) Zizou reaches century on the bench

There is a bit of a whiff of Forest Gump about Coach Zizou, in that the famous football figure always seems to hanging around at precisely the right time to stumble upon timely opportunities. Especially after the rapid firing of Rafa Benitez.  

But, to be fair, the Frenchman has successfully reached a milestone in his managerial career with Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Legia Warsaw, as it is Zidane’s 100th as a coach. Although nearly half of those matches were in the dank third-tier of Spanish football, Zidane has managed to win the Champions League and European Super Cup in the remainder of those fixtures.

Wednesday’s clash is set to be a peculiar one in that it will be in front of no fans due to UEFA putting Legia on the naughty step after disturbances during an earlier game against Borussia Dortmund. "It doesn't give us any advantage," announced Coach Zizou ahead of a match that will also see Cristiano Ronaldo wearing the captain’s armband due to the absences of Sergio Ramos, Pepe and Marcelo. Knowing the Portuguese player’s tendency for European goals, expect to hear his peculiar goal roar echoing around a near empty Pepsi Arena.

The good people of Canada can catch that clash live on beIN SPORTS from 3:45PM ET / 12:45PM PT and everyone else can tune into the highlights of that game and the other Group F clash between Borussia Dortmund and Sporting on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.

2) Must win match at Wembley as Leicester look for giant leap

Elsewhere on Wednesday and Group D is edging towards a cliffhanger with Tottenham taking on Bayer Leverkusen at Wembley Stadium in a must-win match for both sides that is also live on beIN SPORTS Canada at 3:45PM ET / 12:45PM PT.

In Group G, Leicester City are looking for a victory at Copenhagen which would make the English side top of the tree with two matches to spare. Sevilla and Juventus are vying to be top of Group H with games against Dinamo Zagreb and Lyon, respectively.

Tune into the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT for all the highlights followed by top analysis from Christian Vieri and co on the Locker Room at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT.

3) Fur flies after Man City v Barcelona battle

Unsurprisingly, Manchester City’s comeback win over Barcelona has caused quite the to-do in the football chattering classes. As has a post-match tunnel incident which saw Leo Messi’s mean-streets side showing itself after the footballer was insulted by an unnamed Manchester City player. In a withering response, the Barcelona man was reported to have called the insulter ‘stupid’. Stinging stuff.

4) Mkhitaryan comes in from the cold for Man Utd

Manchester United have named their squad that travels to Turkey for Thursday’s Europa League clash against Fenerbahce, and it contains the previously outcast but quite pricey Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has been a peripheral figure at the club so far this season. Another ghostly presence, King Zlatan, is also in the travelling party and looking to end quite the goal drought for the Swedish striker.

5) Anger after De Boer shown De Door

Frank de Boer’s agent is a most displeased man a day after his client was fired by Inter after just 14 games in charge. Guido Albers fumed that the Dutchman was “the right man in the wrong place.” "If he had been given time he would have obtained exceptional results,” claimed Albers.

Meanwhile, the madcap Serie A side are off on another hunt for a coach – the third since the end of last season – although the Italian press is reporting that there is a bit of a kerfuffle between the club’s owners and local regime over the next choice with the former preferring a big name like Guus Hiddink and the latter wanting Italian experience with former Lazio boss, Stefano Pioli, as the number one choice. A decision is expected to be made over the weekend.

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