Eintracht Frankfurt's defence must be "special" to deal with Real Madrid's Karim Benzema-inspired attack in the Super Cup, according to head coach Oliver Glasner.
Europa League winners Frankfurt take on the Champions League victors in Helsinki on Wednesday.
Yet Frankfurt come into the clash on the back of a 6-1 home hammering at the hands of Bayern Munich in their opening Bundesliga fixture on Saturday, while they are also without their creative hub in the form of Filip Kostic, who has been left out of the squad to seal a transfer for Juventus.
While confident his team can come away with a surprise victory at the Olympic Stadium, Glasner acknowledged they must be far less open than they were against Bayern, who were 5-0 up by half-time.
"If we have to play against Real, we need a special defence, especially [against] Benzema, who was the best scorer in the Champions League, really great in box, but it's important that the players who give him passes, whoever plays, that we prevent the players passing into the box because it will always be very difficult to defend Benzema," said Glasner in a news conference.
"That's the idea, act in a compact manner, pressure Madrid so they don't have very much space.
"We're feeling very good, looking very much forward [to the game]. Great compensation for the Europa League final, for the win, playing the Super Cup now, playing a Champions League winner that knocked out Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.
"Of course, the team that waits for us is high quality, we want to show our best football, give our best on the pitch... we're not really scared, we're looking forward to it.
"We showed last year on the European stage there's always a chance, we took that chance."
While Frankfurt, who defeated Barcelona en route to winning the Europa League, might be inexperienced when it comes to matches of this magnitude, they have signed a player who is very much accustomed to big occasions in the form of Mario Gotze.
Former Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund playmaker Gotze, who scored Germany's winner in the 2014 World Cup final, joined Frankfurt from PSV, and Glasner is delighted with his impact so far.
"We are glad that Mario joined us. He integrated really quickly, his technical qualities, his sense for finding solutions, he's very zealous, running a lot," Glasner said.
"He already played 50 or 60 Champions League matches, he has a lot of experience at this level, so for him it's not the newest thing to play against teams like Real Madrid."
Another player who has played for one of Europe's biggest clubs is Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who insisted he will not do anything different to prepare for the game, despite going up against the likes of Benzema and Vinicius Junior.
Trapp said: "There are butterflies in my stomach, but I am happy to play in this game tomorrow.
"It's a huge possibility to show our strengths, but I don't prepare in a special way, everyone knows these players and their qualities, how strong they are.
"My job is always the same, to help the team not concede any goals, that'll be my job, but we will face a lot of quality with Benzema and Vinicius, whoever it is."
Guyana secures 4-1 victory over Barbados in first leg of Concacaf Nations League Play-In Series
Guyana defeated Barbados 4-1 in the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League Play-In series at the Barbados Football Association Technical Centre in Bridgetown, Barbados on Friday
The Concacaf Nations League Play-In consists of a home-and-away direct elimination round. The aggregate score winner in each matchup will advance to the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup Prelims.
Niall Reid-Stephen opened the scoring for Barbados in the 17th minute, his seventh goal of the current campaign, with a left-footed strike from inside the penalty arc.
Omari Glasgow equalized for Guyana nine minutes later with a left-footed strike inside the penalty area.
Then, 14 minutes into Glasgow added a second to his tally in the by pouncing on a deflected ball in the penalty area.
Osaze de Rosario extended the lead in a minute later with a chip over the goalkeeper to capitalize on an error from the defense.
Enoch George scored in the 90'+2 to put a bow on the victory, connecting on a timely pass from Isaiah Jones.
Guyana will host Barbados in the second leg on Tuesday at the National Track and Field Centre in Leonora, Guyana.
Donnarumma: France can still hurt Italy without Mbappe
Gianluigi Donnarumma says Kylian Mbappe's absence will not make Italy underestimate France ahead of their top-of-the-table Nations League clash.
Both teams have already qualified for the quarter-finals, but top spot in Group A2 is still up for grabs.
Italy currently sit top of the pile, three points ahead of France, who they beat 3-1 in early September, but a win for Les Bleus could see them drop to second.
However, for the second international break in a row, France are without their captain, Mbappe, with Didier Deschamps insisting he made the decision to leave the Real Madrid forward out of the squad.
France are unbeaten in their last three games without Mbappe, winning two and drawing one, and though they struggled in front of goal against Israel in a 0-0 stalemate last time out, Donnarumma believes they will still pose a threat to the Azzurri.
"Yes, I don't know about the choices that are made in other squads. I don't know what happened, it's [Mbappe] certainly an important absence," Donnarumma told a press conference.
"I know Kylian, he is one of the strongest in the world and if he was here, he could have troubled us a lot, but there will be other players.
"I know all of them well, they have great quality, strong strikers like [Bradley] Barcola, [Randal] Kolo Muani and [Warren] Zaire-Emery, who play with me. Barcola is an incredible talent, so they have very strong substitutes who can bother us."
Italy are unbeaten in the Nations League, only dropping points in a 2-2 draw with Belgium in October after going down to 10 men.
It comes on the back of a disappointing Euro 2024 campaign in which they were knocked out in the round of 16 by Switzerland, winning just one game in their title defence.
However, Donnarumma believes Italy have found their rhythm again and have more in common with the Euro 2020 winning team.
"It's a healthy group, I'm starting to see the spirit of the old European Championship," he added. "They're all young guys who want to show what they can do, who want to wear this jersey.
"The difficult part is to continue these performances. Our goal now is to continue to improve, work and enjoy ourselves and entertain the fans."
Tottenham 0-3 Arsenal: Gunners stay unbeaten under Slegers with derby rout
Arsenal retained their unbeaten record under interim manager Renee Slegers by thrashing North London rivals Tottenham 3-0 in the Women's Super League on Saturday.
Slegers had overseen a return of four wins and one draw from her first five matches in charge of the Gunners following Jonas Eidevall's exit, and her team managed another statement victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
They needed just 63 seconds to open the scoring through Alessia Russo, who fired across goal and in after turning on the left-hand side of the area.
Arsenal continued to dominate and only a fine block from Amanda Nilden denied Katie McCabe from eight yards, but Tottenham's resistance was broken again in the 22nd minute. Frida Maanum exchanged passes with Kim Little before slotting her finish into the bottom-left corner, with a static Spurs defence applying no pressure whatsoever.
Beth England drew a full-stretch save from Daphne van Domselaar as Tottenham briefly improved, but Arsenal killed the contest 66 minutes in, substitute Stina Blackstenius breaking onto Mariona Caldentey's delicate throughball to finish when one-on-one.
The victory takes Arsenal fourth in the table with 15 points, one adrift of Brighton, who continued their impressive start to the campaign with a 3-2 victory over West Ham earlier on Saturday.
Fran Kirby scored an 82nd-minute winner for the Seagulls after West Ham had fought back from 2-0 down to level the contest, having also assisted Rachel McLauchlan's opener. That first goal involvement took Kirby to 100 in the WSL, making her just the fourth player to reach that milestone.
Data Debrief: Fast start key for Arsenal
Tottenham improved in the middle period of the game but a slow start cost them, which will be a particular blow to coach Robert Vilahamn after they conceded within 24 seconds versus Manchester City last time out.
Russo's goal, scored after one minute and three seconds, is the second-fastest in Arsenal's WSL history, after Jordan Nobbs' 28-second strike against Liverpool in October 2014.
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