Samatta’s Genk face Bull

Dar es Salaam/Paris. Tanzania’s striker, Mbwana Samatta, will be one of the major attractions when KRC Genk face Australia’s Red Bull Salzburg in Belgium today.

Salzburg will be hoping to close the gap to the top two in Uefa Champions League Group E in what promises to be a nail-biting clash.

The group’s most prolific attack face the side with the most porous defence in an encounter that will surely produce goals.

Genk have claimed just a solitary point from their Champions League campaign so far, holding Napoli to a 0-0 draw on home soil in their second group game of the season.

They are struggling domestically as well, finding themselves ninth and 10 points behind league leaders, Club Brugge, after 15 games. They have struggled particularly at the back in the Champions League, conceding 12 goals from just four games and keeping only one clean sheet. This was exemplified by a 6-2 thrashing handed to them by Salzburg the last time they met, and they will not be looking forward to facing the Austrian side a second time.

Salzburg, meanwhile, are flying domestically, having gone unbeaten in 15 league games this season, and are a point clear at the top of the league table.

Add to that a staggering tally of 58 goals whilst allowing just 14 at the other end, and the picture of a formidable force is painted. However, the quality of the teams they have faced in Europe has been significantly higher, though Salzburg have not altered their attacking approach in spite of that.

Narrow, high-scoring defeats have been suffered as they went down 4-3 against Liverpool at Anfield, lost 3-2 to Napoli on home turf, before holding the Serie A side to a 1-1 draw in Italy.

They still have an outside chance of securing qualification to the knockout stages, however, and another big victory over Genk would be a more-than-welcome boost to their hopes.

Genk will be without two long-term absentees - veteran goalkeeper Danny Vukovic and central midfielder Bryan Heynen in today’s match.

Left-back Jere Uronen is also a doubt, but the Belgian side have an otherwise fully-fit squad to choose from.

Salzburg, on the other hand, have a raft of unavailable players to deal with.

Alexander Walke, Antoine Bernede, Cican Stankovic, Patrick Farkas and Sekou Koita are all sidelined with some form of injury.

The major talking point, however, is the potential unavailability of star striker Erling Braut Haaland, who is struggling with a knee problem.

and may not be fit in time for the game.