Highlights
- Chelsea will eye a R16 guaranteed berth as they face RB Salzburg
- Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint Germain and Benfica will also eye knocout stage berth
- Real Madrid are already through to the last 16
The Champions League matchday 5 will bring a string of big games on Tuesday night as the likes of Chelsea, AC Milan, Manchester City and Real Madrid take center stage. While the big boys will be looking for a Round of 16 passage, the likes of Juventus will have a hard pill to swallow as they face exit from the competition. Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint Germain will also be a major attraction as they and Benfica look for a berth in the Champions League knockout stage.
Chelsea haven’t failed to advance to the knockout stage since the 2012-13 season — when they were the defending champion — and would make it through to the last 16 again with a win at Salzburg.
The Austrian champions are in second place, a point behind Chelsea, and can qualify themselves by beating the London club and if AC Milan fails to beat Dinamo Zagreb in the other match in the group taking place in the Croatian capital.
Real Madrid to seal top spot?
Already through to the round of 16, Real Madrid will be without some of its regular starters when it visits second-place Leipzig. Luka Modric, Karim Benzema and Federico Valverde were not included by coach Carlo Ancelotti to the squad making the trip to Germany.
The defending champions, who can secure first place in the group, have won their last four away games in the group stage of the Champions League, all without conceding any goals.
In the other group match, last-place Celtic hosts third-place Shakhtar Donetsk, which is one point behind Leipzig. Celtic has lost seven consecutive home games in the group stage, scoring only once in that stint.
On eight points each atop the group, Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica can both qualify for the knockout stage if they win their respective games.
PSG and Benfica eye R16 berth
PSG hosts Maccabi Haifa without stalwart midfielder Marco Verratti, who is suspended, and injured midfielder Danilo Pereira. After back-to-back draws against Benfica, coach Christophe Galtier has switched to a different system — a 4-3-1-2 formation — for PSG's last two games.
The change has helped the team's forwards play with more freedom of movement in their favourite zone, with Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi combining three times last week in the 3-0 win against Ajaccio.
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Benfica, which hosts Juventus, is coming off a win at rival Porto in the Portuguese league and is unbeaten in 19 matches in all competitions this season. It has won all three of its previous home games against Juventus, scoring twice in each of them.
The other games on the night include, Manchester City travelling to Dortmund while Sevilla host Copenhagen in Group G.
