The international break does not appear any sooner than in March, and that leaves a list of grueling fixtures for clubs as the UCL group stages edges closer to the end.We do a deep dive into some of the matches across Europe this week as we look at possible qualifications and what teams need to do to book qualification to the last 16.
PSG and Real Madrid will go at each other again tomorrow night at the Bernabeu. It was a horror show for the Spanish giants in the first game week. Angel Di Maria was at his magnificent best in that encounter. Thomas Tuchel has the firepower in his arsenal to go away from home and cause Zidane trouble. Zidane should be able to match the technical nous of Tuchel to keep the scoreline respectful as qualification for either team looks a sure bet.
Juventus will welcome the visit of Atletico Madrid in Turin. A stalemate in the previous encounter leaves everything on the line as Diego Simeone will be looking to seal qualification after his loss to Bayer Leverkusen. Atletico is known for its work-rate and rugged footballing approach and seems to have lost that. A victory will be a psychological boost to Diego Simeone's side. Juventus, on the one hand, having qualified must see the rest of the games through for the competition's formality.
Mourinho made a return to the dugout as he took over from Pochettino. A turbulent victory over the weekend but he returns to Champions League action with Spurs as they play host to Olympiacos. It will be a boost for him if he can make it two wins from two games to kickstart his managerial career at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Pep Guardiola will need just a point to make it to the knockout phase but needs to skip the Shakhtar Donetsk hurdle.
Dinamo Zagreb can reach the last 16 after a long time out of the UCL if they can collect all 3 points from Atalanta provided City get the victory over their opponents.
Ernesto Valverde has not convinced fans with some of his matchday performances with the most recent one against Slavia Praha a worrying highlight. Borussia Dortmund did well to hold Barcelona in GW 1. A loss to Borussia Dortmund and Europa league looms for Barcelona if Inter gets the better of Slavia Praha. Antonio Conte needs points to make it out of the group stages and would fancy this matchup against Slavia Praha as the footballing of the Czech Republican side has been awful. They managed to get a draw against Barcelona and Inter though.
RB Leipzig sit on top of Group G with Lyon tailing them. Lyon will await Zenit in France and must be up to the task to keep pressure on Leipzig. A victory for Zenit opens up qualification chances as well. Julian Nagelsmann will be up against Benfica who languish at the bottom.
Jurgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti will be meeting for the fourth time in the last 2 UCL campaigns. Many Liverpudlians will remember the famous save from Allison in the dying minutes and Salah's turn off Koulibaly to score the only goal of the game at Anfield last season. Ancelotti visits again, but his run of poor results domestically makes this entirely difficult counting the kind of team the Reds are on their home turf.
The holders must beat Napoli to make it out of the group, and that will surmount to no pressure in the last game week. Erling Braut Haaland is red hot as he keeps banging the goals. A win for them keeps CL hopes alive if Napoli lose as Genk stand no chance at all now.
Chelsea will make the flight to Valencia in Spain. Lampard lost this game by a goal to nil the last time out. He got the win against Ajax away from home and can do same against Albert Celades' men. Valencia must get this win to make chances of qualification easy but at the expense of Lampard's Chelsea. Lille is out of the competition and will play host to Ajax. It is 7 points for Ajax, Chelsea and Valencia and just two places for qualification. Who makes it out?
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