Champions League: Round 6 Preview
We have a very exciting week of Champions League action coming up. Round 6 is the final round of group stage action meaning by Wednesday night we'll know which teams are progressing to the Last 16 draw which takes place next week.
Yes, there are some dead rubbers on Wednesday which are notoriously annoying for Superbru players to pick, but for every dead rubber there's a crucial matchup between teams either competing for progression to the knockouts or for third place. Don't forget, for many of the smaller teams in this competition, entry to the Europa League via 3rd place in their group rather than coming dead last is a big deal.
Here's all you need to know ahead of the action. As I did for the last round, we'll be taking a look at each group's situation before going into each individual match and my prediction for it. Rather than starting with Group A, we'll be looking at the Tuesday action first (Groups E-H) as it makes sense to do this chronologically and I'm pretty sure no one can remember which group letter the teams actually belong to!
Napoli vs. Genk Napoli seem to always perform well against Liverpool but their displays against the Reds in the Champions League might be a little misleading for anyone who only watches them in those big UCL games. The Italian side has a lot of off-field issues at the moment and things aren't great on the pitch either - they haven't actually won a match since beating Salzburg at the end of October. Carlo Ancelotti has seen his team draw a lot of games since and whilst a point would almost certainly be enough for qualification here, three points will definitely be the goal to get that elusive win and stand a chance of progressing as group winners. Genk are playing for pride. Prediction: 2-0
Salzburg vs. Liverpool I'm really excited for this one. If you're Liverpool, with the number of games you have this month, the number of goals you've been leaking and the fact that your elite defensive midfielder Fabinho is unavailable, Salzburg is not a place you want to be going where there's pressure on a result. Salzburg have scored 80 goals already this season across their league and UCL campaigns. 80! You have to see them threatening this Liverpool side who are going to have to fight fire with fire in my opinion. Salzburg's games are almost always high-scoring and I see this being the same with the holders just sneaking through. Prediction: 2-2
Dortmund vs. Slavia Prague Dortmund have lacked consistency for much of this season and find themselves 5 points off the top of the Bundesliga but a 5-0 win over Dusseldorf at the weekend should give them lots of confidence ahead of this game. The runners-up place is in Inter's hands rather than Dortmund's so all BVB can look to do is win their game and hope for a favour from Barcelona. Prediction: 3-1
Inter vs. Barcelona A huge match. Inter have been very strong this season under Antonio Conte, sitting top of Serie A, and many would fancy them to stand a chance of winning this game even if Barcelona were turning up with something to play for. Barca won the reverse of this fixture 2-1 after going behind at the Camp Nou but it will be worth checking their team news for this match before finalising your pick to try and judge motivation - their travelling squad has already been announced and Lionel Messi has been rested. Inter just have to match or better Dortmund's result but since the German side are strong favourites to beat Slavia, it seems three points over Barca will be needed to progress. I can see Conte doing it. Prediction: 2-0
Lyon vs. RB Leipzig Having already beaten Leipzig away in the reverse of this fixture, Lyon should be confident of winning this game and winning the group. However, they're having a very up and down season and Leipzig are a very good side. The Bundesliga team haven't lost since the end of October and I think they'll be good enough to get at least a draw in this one to win the group, as long as they put their first XI out. A draw would still give Lyon a chance of progression and certainly Europa League football. Prediction: 1-1
Benfica vs. Zenit If I'm right about Lyon's result, Zenit could go through with a win in Portugal but I think that's unlikely. Benfica started the UCL poorly and have lost out on progression as a result but they're favourites to win this fixture in my opinion. That said, the hosts would have to win by a better scoreline than 3-1 in order to get third ahead of Zenit which I think is unlikely. Prediction: 2-1
Chelsea vs. Lille Chelsea have been pretty awful defensively but Lille are yet to score more than a single goal in a Champions League game this season and you'd expect the Blues to hurt them when going forward. Rudiger's return to fitness is a boost for the hosts but it still may take some time for him to help them become more solid. I see Chelsea getting the win they need but it could well be as dramatic as the rest of their UCL games have been this year! Prediction: 3-1
Ajax vs. Valencia This should be a cracker. Ajax are the better side and will be considered favourites by almost everyone after winning 0-3 at the Mestalla, but Valencia can play and will make life as difficult as possible for the hosts in Amsterdam. Ajax's lengthy unbeaten domestic run actually came to an end at the weekend as they were beaten 0-2 at home by Willem II but a look at the match stats suggests they played their usual game fairly well. A draw would see Ajax through but they'll want more than that so that they can progress as winners. Prediction: 2-0
Dinamo vs. Manchester City Again, it'd be wise to look at City's team before confirming your pick for this one and whilst any XI Guardiola selects will be stronger than Dinamo's, Zagreb will be a tough place to go. It's the hosts who have everything to play for but I feel that the Manchester derby loss will push Guardiola into making sure his team find a win here. We're still a lot of games away from the January transfer window and Aymeric Laporte's return and City are looking extremely fragile. They need all the confidence-building results they can get. Prediction: 1-2
Shakhtar vs. Atalanta One of the toughest picks of the round. Home advantage is making me side with Shakhtar but Atalanta are in form and a very good team. A draw would be enough for Shakhtar if Dinamo fail to win but they won't be banking on that so this becomes a real knockout tie. Especially since it's an early game, if you have time to watch something a bit different, this one might be worthwhile! Prediction: 2-1
PSG vs. Galatasaray Despite their being nothing to play for, expect PSG to win this game. Their squad is excellent meaning whichever XI they select will be very strong and Galatasaray have been the weakest team in Group A by a distance. Prediction: 2-0
Brugge vs. Real Madrid There's more potential for an upset here, especially since Brugge managed a point in Madrid, but I still expect an away to kickstart what is a massive week for Real Madrid with games against Valencia and Barcelona to come. Brugge are top by a distance in the Belgian league so can give this a real go but Real's class should shine through and they look far more composed than they did during the period that saw the reverse of this fixture take place. Prediction: 0-2
Bayern vs. Tottenham After suffering back-to-back Bundesliga losses (extremely rare for Bayern), the hosts find themselves 7th on their domestic table and in need of a win to get back on track. Tottenham have a 7-2 reverse fixture loss to try and avenge and are of course now under a new manager in Jose Mourinho. He would love a big win at a European giant to indicate progress made since that humiliation under Pochettino. With all this in mind as well as the fact there's no significant points at stake, I'm struggling with my pick. Despite their recent woes, I think a home win is more likely, especially if Lewandowski starts. Prediction: 3-2
Olympiacos vs. Red Star Red Star are two points ahead of Olympiacos after winning the reverse of this fixture but I'm backing the hosts to make up for that and win this game to seal Europa League qualification. They've looked a far better side than Red Star in other games. Prediction: 3-0
Leverkusen vs. Juventus Maurizio Sarri lost his first game as Juventus manager at the weekend as his side fell to a 3-1 defeat at Lazio which puts them 2 points behind Inter at the top of Serie A. There's nothing to play for in this game other than bouncing back from that defeat and they face a Leverkusen side who are on an unbeaten run of six games across all comps including 2-1 wins over Atletico and Bayern Munich. Even before their defeat, Juve had been finding ways to win rather than blowing teams out of the water and I feel Leverkusen could get a result here but I'm going to go with a draw. Juventus have a large squad and any players that come into the XI have a lot to prove in order to push for a starting spot. Prediction: 1-1
Atletico vs. Lokomotiv Atletico have been a very hard watch this season because they're really struggling for goals and their defence that made them so great for so many years also appears far weaker. Simeone's team are in poor form but they've had some tough fixtures and this is a very winnable game to get some confidence back by qualifying for the last 16. I'm going for a typical 1-0 Atletico win they've been far less common this season than in previous years! Anything but a win would be really concerning for everyone associated with the club. Prediction: 1-0
Best of luck with your predictor and fantasy picks this week.. I hope this article helps solve more headaches than it creates!
Yes, there are some dead rubbers on Wednesday which are notoriously annoying for Superbru players to pick, but for every dead rubber there's a crucial matchup between teams either competing for progression to the knockouts or for third place. Don't forget, for many of the smaller teams in this competition, entry to the Europa League via 3rd place in their group rather than coming dead last is a big deal.
Here's all you need to know ahead of the action. As I did for the last round, we'll be taking a look at each group's situation before going into each individual match and my prediction for it. Rather than starting with Group A, we'll be looking at the Tuesday action first (Groups E-H) as it makes sense to do this chronologically and I'm pretty sure no one can remember which group letter the teams actually belong to!
Group E
The situation: Since this group will see both matches kick-off early at 18:55 (CET), these teams will be the first to learn their fate. Fortunately, we start off with a bang as this group should be one of the most interesting! Liverpool's draw with Napoli in Round 5 leaves them with a giant banana skin between themselves and the knockout stages. That banana skin is called Salzburg and if the Austrian side beat Liverpool while conceding less than three goals, Liverpool will be eliminated and sent into the Europa League if Napoli defeat Genk at home.Napoli vs. Genk Napoli seem to always perform well against Liverpool but their displays against the Reds in the Champions League might be a little misleading for anyone who only watches them in those big UCL games. The Italian side has a lot of off-field issues at the moment and things aren't great on the pitch either - they haven't actually won a match since beating Salzburg at the end of October. Carlo Ancelotti has seen his team draw a lot of games since and whilst a point would almost certainly be enough for qualification here, three points will definitely be the goal to get that elusive win and stand a chance of progressing as group winners. Genk are playing for pride. Prediction: 2-0
Salzburg vs. Liverpool I'm really excited for this one. If you're Liverpool, with the number of games you have this month, the number of goals you've been leaking and the fact that your elite defensive midfielder Fabinho is unavailable, Salzburg is not a place you want to be going where there's pressure on a result. Salzburg have scored 80 goals already this season across their league and UCL campaigns. 80! You have to see them threatening this Liverpool side who are going to have to fight fire with fire in my opinion. Salzburg's games are almost always high-scoring and I see this being the same with the holders just sneaking through. Prediction: 2-2
Group F
The situation: Another very interesting group. Barcelona are already through as group winners but Inter and Dortmund are level on 7 points each with Inter ahead on the head-to-head/goal difference advantage. So much depends on how willing Barca are to compete at the San Siro given their confirmed qualification (they're currently level on points with Real Madrid at the top of La Liga). Slavia Prague, who travel to Dortmund in this round, are playing for pride but have been more competitive in this 'group of death' than many expected.Dortmund vs. Slavia Prague Dortmund have lacked consistency for much of this season and find themselves 5 points off the top of the Bundesliga but a 5-0 win over Dusseldorf at the weekend should give them lots of confidence ahead of this game. The runners-up place is in Inter's hands rather than Dortmund's so all BVB can look to do is win their game and hope for a favour from Barcelona. Prediction: 3-1
Inter vs. Barcelona A huge match. Inter have been very strong this season under Antonio Conte, sitting top of Serie A, and many would fancy them to stand a chance of winning this game even if Barcelona were turning up with something to play for. Barca won the reverse of this fixture 2-1 after going behind at the Camp Nou but it will be worth checking their team news for this match before finalising your pick to try and judge motivation - their travelling squad has already been announced and Lionel Messi has been rested. Inter just have to match or better Dortmund's result but since the German side are strong favourites to beat Slavia, it seems three points over Barca will be needed to progress. I can see Conte doing it. Prediction: 2-0
Group G
The situation: This one's pretty complicated - the short story is that all teams will still be very motivated to compete on Tuesday. Benfica can't progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League but could still finish third if results go their way. Leipzig are already through to the knockout stages but need at least a point against Lyon to win the group. That leaves Lyon and Zenit battling to go through with Leipzig. Lyon have to beat Leipzig to progress (in which case they'd also win the group) or they can draw so long as Zenit lose to Benfica. Zenit can go through if they beat Benfica, but they'll only do so if Lyon drop points against Leipzig.Lyon vs. RB Leipzig Having already beaten Leipzig away in the reverse of this fixture, Lyon should be confident of winning this game and winning the group. However, they're having a very up and down season and Leipzig are a very good side. The Bundesliga team haven't lost since the end of October and I think they'll be good enough to get at least a draw in this one to win the group, as long as they put their first XI out. A draw would still give Lyon a chance of progression and certainly Europa League football. Prediction: 1-1
Benfica vs. Zenit If I'm right about Lyon's result, Zenit could go through with a win in Portugal but I think that's unlikely. Benfica started the UCL poorly and have lost out on progression as a result but they're favourites to win this fixture in my opinion. That said, the hosts would have to win by a better scoreline than 3-1 in order to get third ahead of Zenit which I think is unlikely. Prediction: 2-1
Group H
The situation: Ajax lead the group with Chelsea and Valencia two points behind them. Ajax only need a point to be sure of their qualification. Chelsea will go through if they defeat Lille. Of the three teams, Valencia appear the least likely to go through before a ball is kicked. They must either defeat Ajax away from home or otherwise ensure they remain level on points with Chelsea due to their superior head-to-head record against the Blues but this would of course require Chelsea to drop points at home against Lille who are playing for pride.Chelsea vs. Lille Chelsea have been pretty awful defensively but Lille are yet to score more than a single goal in a Champions League game this season and you'd expect the Blues to hurt them when going forward. Rudiger's return to fitness is a boost for the hosts but it still may take some time for him to help them become more solid. I see Chelsea getting the win they need but it could well be as dramatic as the rest of their UCL games have been this year! Prediction: 3-1
Ajax vs. Valencia This should be a cracker. Ajax are the better side and will be considered favourites by almost everyone after winning 0-3 at the Mestalla, but Valencia can play and will make life as difficult as possible for the hosts in Amsterdam. Ajax's lengthy unbeaten domestic run actually came to an end at the weekend as they were beaten 0-2 at home by Willem II but a look at the match stats suggests they played their usual game fairly well. A draw would see Ajax through but they'll want more than that so that they can progress as winners. Prediction: 2-0
Group C
The situation: Group C has the early kick-offs on Wednesday and there should be plenty of drama as the battle for the runners-up place includes all three teams (City have already progressed as group winners). Even Pep Guardiola has now conceded that City are unlikely to be able to compete for the Premier League but this is still an opportunity for them to rest players so Dinamo (5 points) may fancy their chances, while in Ukraine there's a straight battle between Shakhtar (6 points) and Atalanta (4 points). Qualification is of course in Shakhtar's hands but a City win would open the door for Atalanta to steal the runners up spot at the last minute with a win in Kharviv.Dinamo vs. Manchester City Again, it'd be wise to look at City's team before confirming your pick for this one and whilst any XI Guardiola selects will be stronger than Dinamo's, Zagreb will be a tough place to go. It's the hosts who have everything to play for but I feel that the Manchester derby loss will push Guardiola into making sure his team find a win here. We're still a lot of games away from the January transfer window and Aymeric Laporte's return and City are looking extremely fragile. They need all the confidence-building results they can get. Prediction: 1-2
Shakhtar vs. Atalanta One of the toughest picks of the round. Home advantage is making me side with Shakhtar but Atalanta are in form and a very good team. A draw would be enough for Shakhtar if Dinamo fail to win but they won't be banking on that so this becomes a real knockout tie. Especially since it's an early game, if you have time to watch something a bit different, this one might be worthwhile! Prediction: 2-1
Group A
The situation: Two dead rubbers. PSG are already through as group winners, Real Madrid are through as runners-up. Brugge are set for Europa League football as things stand since they're a point ahead of Galatasaray (and both are expected to lose in this round) but that can of course still change if Galatasaray cause an upset in Paris.PSG vs. Galatasaray Despite their being nothing to play for, expect PSG to win this game. Their squad is excellent meaning whichever XI they select will be very strong and Galatasaray have been the weakest team in Group A by a distance. Prediction: 2-0
Brugge vs. Real Madrid There's more potential for an upset here, especially since Brugge managed a point in Madrid, but I still expect an away to kickstart what is a massive week for Real Madrid with games against Valencia and Barcelona to come. Brugge are top by a distance in the Belgian league so can give this a real go but Real's class should shine through and they look far more composed than they did during the period that saw the reverse of this fixture take place. Prediction: 0-2
Group B
The situation: A similar situation to Group A except the two teams still contending for 3rd place will meet one another. Bayern vs. Tottenham looks a huge game on paper but both have already sealed 1st and 2nd place respectively.Bayern vs. Tottenham After suffering back-to-back Bundesliga losses (extremely rare for Bayern), the hosts find themselves 7th on their domestic table and in need of a win to get back on track. Tottenham have a 7-2 reverse fixture loss to try and avenge and are of course now under a new manager in Jose Mourinho. He would love a big win at a European giant to indicate progress made since that humiliation under Pochettino. With all this in mind as well as the fact there's no significant points at stake, I'm struggling with my pick. Despite their recent woes, I think a home win is more likely, especially if Lewandowski starts. Prediction: 3-2
Olympiacos vs. Red Star Red Star are two points ahead of Olympiacos after winning the reverse of this fixture but I'm backing the hosts to make up for that and win this game to seal Europa League qualification. They've looked a far better side than Red Star in other games. Prediction: 3-0
Group D
The situation: Juventus have already qualified as group winners. The battle for second place could still be interesting! Atletico, who have fallen below expectations for much of the season so far, should still progress as they just need to beat Lokomotiv at home. However, if they don't, Leverkusen - who are in incredible form - can take their runners-up place with a win over Juve who may rest players. Lokomotiv will finish fourth.Leverkusen vs. Juventus Maurizio Sarri lost his first game as Juventus manager at the weekend as his side fell to a 3-1 defeat at Lazio which puts them 2 points behind Inter at the top of Serie A. There's nothing to play for in this game other than bouncing back from that defeat and they face a Leverkusen side who are on an unbeaten run of six games across all comps including 2-1 wins over Atletico and Bayern Munich. Even before their defeat, Juve had been finding ways to win rather than blowing teams out of the water and I feel Leverkusen could get a result here but I'm going to go with a draw. Juventus have a large squad and any players that come into the XI have a lot to prove in order to push for a starting spot. Prediction: 1-1
Atletico vs. Lokomotiv Atletico have been a very hard watch this season because they're really struggling for goals and their defence that made them so great for so many years also appears far weaker. Simeone's team are in poor form but they've had some tough fixtures and this is a very winnable game to get some confidence back by qualifying for the last 16. I'm going for a typical 1-0 Atletico win they've been far less common this season than in previous years! Anything but a win would be really concerning for everyone associated with the club. Prediction: 1-0
Best of luck with your predictor and fantasy picks this week.. I hope this article helps solve more headaches than it creates!
Ashwill
46 caps
Group E
9 Dec 18:00
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Hunter
2,487 caps
Hi
11 Dec 08:20
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