We’re at the last Round of the Group Stage of this Season’s UEFA Champions League. There are still a good number of decisive fixtures in Matchday 6.
It’s also a Matchday where we get to watch Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi face-off once again as Barcelona hosts Serie A champions, Juventus on Tuesday. This should be fun!
In this thread, we shall be covering fixtures of Matchday 6 from 8th December to 9th December. A total of 16 matches.
Join in the discussion and share your view on various matches
6:55pm (BST) 11:25pm (IST)
• Zenit vs. Dortmund
• Lazio vs. Club Brugge
8pm (BST) 12am (IST)
• Chelsea vs. Krasnodar
• Rennes vs. Sevilla
• Barcelona vs. Juventus
• Dynamo Kiev vs. Ferencvaros
• PSG vs. Istanbul Basaksehir
• RB Leipzig vs. Man United
Barcelona will be looking to secure first position in Group G when they welcome Italian Champions Juventus to the Camp Nou in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Both sides have already booked their spot in the last-16 stage of the competition, while Barca have a three-point cushion over second-placed Juve, meaning that the Old Lady have serious work to do if they are to snatch first position from Ronald Koeman’s side on the final matchday.
Barca’s Champions League form this season has been excellent, winning all five of their Group G fixtures with an aggregate score of 16-2 to comfortably book their spot in the knockout round of the competition.
The Catalan giants are very much in charge of first position in the section and will only give up top spot to Juve if they lose by three goals or more, or by any two-goal margin other than 2-0.
Juve, as mentioned, are also already through to the next round, having picked up 12 points from their five group matches courtesy of four wins and one defeat.
The Old Lady will have to come up with a special result to secure first position, but they did beat Dynamo 3-0 at home last week and are certainly capable of running up a big score against their inconsistent hosts.
Juve have reached the last-16 stage of the European Cup in 18 of their previous 21 Champions League group-stage campaigns, but they have only lifted the trophy on two occasions - in 1985 and 1996 - and have incredibly lost seven of their nine European Cup finals, including each of the last five.
Barcelona Champions League form: LWWWWW Barcelona form (all competitions): WLWWWL
Juventus Champions League form: WWLWWW Juventus form (all competitions): DWWDWW
Manchester United will be looking to book their place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League when they visit RB Leipzig in Germany on Tuesday night.
The English giants are level on nine points with both Leipzig and Paris Saint-Germain in a fascinating Group H and need to avoid defeat at the Red Bull Arena in order to progress to the knockout round.
Leipzig impressively reached the semi-finals of last season’s Champions League before losing to French giants PSG, but they are extremely inexperienced at this level of football - currently competing in just their third group-stage campaign.
Leipzig opened their Group H challenge with a 2-0 victory over Istanbul Basaksehir but suffered a shock 5-0 defeat away to United towards the end of October. Leipzig managed to recover with a 2-1 home win over PSG but then lost the reverse game in Paris to leave themselves in a difficult position in the section ahead of their away game with Basaksehir last week.
United were in an excellent position in the group after matchday two, with back-to-back wins over PSG and Leipzig seeing them firmly take charge of the section. A damaging 2-1 loss in Istanbul followed, though, and now Solskjaer’s team are sweating on a spot in the round of 16.
The Red Devils did manage to return to winning ways at home to Basaksehir on November 24, but a 3-1 home defeat to PSG last week means that they have work to do in order to advance to the knockout round.
United have a huge game at home to Manchester City in the Premier League next weekend but simply cannot afford to look past Tuesday’s clash as they attempt to book their spot in the knockout round of Europe’s premier competition for the 19th time.
RB Leipzig Champions League form: LWLWLW RB Leipzig form (all competitions): WDLWWD
Manchester United Champions League form: LWWLWL Manchester United form (all competitions): WWWWLW
Chelsea will be aiming to stretch their winning run to five matches when they welcome Russia side FC Krasnodar to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.
The Blues have already confirmed their first-place finish in the group, whereas Krasnodar will drop down to the Europa League ahead of this dead rubber.
The Blues’ eighth victory from their last nine in all competitions sees Lampard’s men temporarily top the Premier League table, although Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool both play on Sunday and are only one point adrift of Chelsea before they face Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers respectively.
Chelsea have swept aside the competition in Europe as well and are guaranteed to finish top following four wins and one draw in Group E, with Giroud’s quartet of goals sealing a 4-0 win at the home of Sevilla - the only side to stop Chelsea from winning in this season’s tournament - last week.
The talented attacking crop at Lampard’s disposal has come under some criticism, but with a goal difference of +12 in the group, only Barcelona can boast a better record in Europe’s elite competition this season, with Lampard’s men sure to feel confident of notching up some more against an inconsistent Krasnodar.
Krasnodar have been no match for Chelsea and Sevilla - who occupy the top two spots as expected - with the only points that Krasnodar have amassed in the group coming in their two meetings with Rennes.
Musaev’s side can afford to feel optimistic heading into this game after they trounced Rotor Volgograd 5-0 in the Russian top flight at the weekend, with Ari and Viktor Claesson both netting braces while Shapi Suleymanov also helped himself to a goal against their 10-man opponents.
I am not a big fan of score prediction as I see prediction without statistical modeling equivalent to the probability of hitting the bullseye in darts. If you are lucky with your calculated guess, you temporarily seem to be smarter than others if not others get to brag their expertise.
In the 1st leg on 29th Oct, Barcelona won 2-0 against Juventus. I think Ronaldo didn’t play this match testing positive for COVID19.
So, to give a shot at today’s prediction - I say Barcelona 2-1 Juventus (more a wishful thinking with bias towards Barca )
Only two of Man Utd, PSG and RB Leipzig can qualify Real Madrid could finish top or bottom of their group 16 teams locked into the knockouts Messi vs. Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo has the most Champions League:
Trophies
Goals
Home goals
Away goals
Quarter-final goals
Semi-final goals
Final goals
Free-kicks
Penalties
Headers
Braces
Hat-tricks
Assists
The Undisputed UCL GOAT UCL
JUST IN: Istanbul Basaksehir players and staff have walked off the pitch in Paris after their assistant manager was reportedly racially abused by a UEFA official.
PSG players have also joined Istanbul in walking off the pitch and into the locker room.
Tuesday’s Champions League fixtures:
6:55pm (BST) 11:25pm (IST)
Ronaldo
TOP SCORERS 
at the end of Group Stage? 
)
Only two of Man Utd, PSG and RB Leipzig can qualify
RB Leipzig home record this season
Man Utd away record this season
Tonight: RB Leipzig 
A draw is enough for United, but no side has come away from Leipzig with as much as point this season…