The UEFA Champions League returns for the primary time within the new yr, reducing their winter break brief because the new-look league section reaches an exciting conclusion.
The ultimate two weeks of league section motion begins on Tuesday as groups rush to land inside the highest 24, with a number of high-profile golf equipment battling for survival within the remaining rounds of play. That features Paris Saint-Germain, who rank twenty fifth coming into Matchday 7 and host Twenty second-place Manchester Metropolis on Wednesday. Reigning champions Actual Madrid, in the meantime, will goal to climb out of twentieth place with a recreation in opposition to RB Salzburg on the identical day. On the flip facet of the desk, Liverpool look to keep up their excellent report after they host Lille on Tuesday and the likes of Barcelona and Arsenal hope to stay within the high eight as they attain the league section end line.
This is what it is advisable know earlier than a consequential week within the Champions League.
The best way to watch
Paramount+ can have each minute of the motion, with CBS Sports activities Community and CBS Sports activities Golazo Community providing supplemental protection. Every day’s protection begins with Champions League Matchday on CBS Sports activities Golazo Community earlier than the UEFA Champions League In the present day pre-match present begins at 2 p.m. ET on CBS Sports activities Community and Paramount+. Choose matches will air on each CBS Sports activities Community and CBS Sports activities Golazo Community earlier than the UEFA Champions League In the present day post-show airs on CBS Sports activities Community and Paramount+. CBS Sports activities Golazo Community will conclude protection every day with new editions of Scoreline and the Champions Membership. The Golazo Present may even air on Paramount+ through the late batch of video games.
Champions League standings
Key: Positions 1-8 qualify for Spherical of 16 whereas positions 9-24 qualify for Knockout Part Play-Offs and positions 25-36 are eradicated.
| Pos | Group | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | +12 | 18 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 7 | +14 | 15 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 2 | +9 | 13 |
| 4 | Bayer Leverkusen | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 13 |
| 5 | Aston Villa | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 13 |
| 6 | Inter | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 13 |
| 7 | Brest | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 13 |
| 8 | Lille | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 13 |
| 9 | Borussia Dortmund | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 9 | +9 | 12 |
| 10 | Bayern Munich | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 8 | +9 | 12 |
| 11 | Atletico Madrid | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 12 |
| 12 | AC Milan | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 9 | +3 | 12 |
| 13 | Atalanta | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 11 |
| 14 | Juventus | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 11 |
| 15 | Benfica | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 10 |
| 16 | Monaco | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 10 | +2 | 10 |
| 17 | Sporting Lisbon | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 9 | +2 | 10 |
| 18 | Feyenoord | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 15 | -1 | 10 |
| 19 | Membership Brugge | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 10 |
| 20 | Actual Madrid | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 9 |
| 21 | Celtic | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 9 |
| 22 | Manchester Metropolis | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 8 |
| 23 | PSV | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 8 |
| 24 | Dinamo Zagreb | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 15 | -5 | 6 |
| 25 | Paris Saint-Germain | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 7 |
| 26 | Stuttgart | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 7 |
| 27 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 13 | -8 | 4 |
| 28 | Sparta Praha | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 18 | -11 | 4 |
| 29 | Sturm Graz | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 9 | -5 | 3 |
| 30 | Girona | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 10 | -6 | 3 |
| 31 | Crvena Zvezda | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 19 | -9 | 3 |
| 32 | RB Salzburg | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 18 | -15 | 3 |
| 33 | Bologna | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | -6 | 2 |
| 34 | RB Leipzig | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 13 | -7 | 0 |
| 35 | Slovan Bratislava | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 21 | -16 | 0 |
| 36 | Younger Boys | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 22 | -19 | 0 |
Matchday 5 TV schedule
All instances Jap
Storylines for Matchday 7
1. Excessive-stakes battle in Paris
Undoubtedly, essentially the most anticipated recreation of Matchday 7 is Manchester Metropolis’s journey to Paris Saint-Germain, a must-win encounter for either side. The continental heavyweights are surprisingly battling to remain within the competitors, with Metropolis’s spot inside the highest 24 only one level robust and PSG only one level away from a berth that might get them into the knockout rounds. PSG’s poor run within the Champions League comes after a tricky draw that included video games in opposition to Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich, failing to impress a lot of their post-Kylian Mbappe period. They should change course with an announcement win on Wednesday to lower the danger of an early elimination – and have acted within the switch window accordingly.
PSG will return to Champions League play with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who formally joined the membership from Napoli on Friday. He was unable to play of their 2-1 win over Lens on Saturday however might make his debut in opposition to Metropolis on Wednesday when he may be wanting to justify his massive transfer. Kvaratskhelia is amongst Europe’s high attackers however scored simply 4 objectives for Napoli earlier than leaving and is equally in want of a giant efficiency as his new membership is. It makes for a captivating dynamic in opposition to Metropolis, who’ve 4 wins of their final 5 however three got here in opposition to groups ranked 14th or decrease within the Premier League and the opposite was in opposition to League Two facet Salford Metropolis within the FA Cup. Pep Guardiola’s facet is probably not in disaster mode proper now, however Wednesday’s recreation will reply the query of if their earlier woes are behind them or if the schedule simply gave them a short reprieve.
2. Lille and Brest’s quests to remain within the high eight
Whereas troubles for groups like PSG and Metropolis have supplied among the largest shocks of the league section, a pleasant shock has been the flexibility of groups like Lille and Brest to carry spots within the high eight heading into Matchday 7. They’re in good standing to advance to the knockouts regardless however with direct passageway to the spherical of 16 an choice, these two will undoubtedly do no matter they will to remain precisely the place they’re.
Brest have a positive fixture Matchday 7 in opposition to Twenty seventh-place Shakhtar Donetsk, although the identical can’t be stated for Lille. They journey to Champions League leaders Liverpool, who’ve an ideal report up to now and are shoo-ins for the spherical of 16. The Reds haven’t been in high-flying kind as of late, although – they’ve simply two wins of their final 5, one in all which was in opposition to League Two’s Accrington Stanley within the FA Cup. The fatigue of a protracted season may be catching as much as them already, maybe making them uniquely susceptible in opposition to Lille so Tuesday’s recreation will likely be a check of their mettle, too.
3. Atletico, Leverkusen face off
One other recreation price maintaining a tally of in Matchday 7 is Bayer Leverkusen’s journey to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, a recreation between two in-form groups which have bold goals this season after surviving some early season bumps within the street.
Final season’s Bundesliga champions Leverkusen have finished properly sufficient within the Champions League to take a seat in fourth place heading into Tuesday’s recreation, and are additionally simply 4 factors shy of Bayern Munich within the home title race. They’re on a 13-game unbeaten run since a 4-0 loss to Liverpool on Matchday 4, successful all however a type of video games and conceding simply 9 instances, recovering from a defensively shaky begin to the season. Atletico, in the meantime, are on a 16-game unbeaten run that has impressed new life into Diego Simeone’s method, leaving them in eleventh place within the Champions League and simply two factors behind Actual Madrid in La Liga.
Either side have notched assertion wins throughout their runs, with Leverkusen beating Inter within the Champions League and Atletico outdoing Barcelona shortly earlier than the brand new yr. Whether or not or not they will add one other to their spectacular unbeaten streaks is the massive query in Madrid on Tuesday.
