Its time for the UEFA Champions League to enter the home stretch as return legs get underway with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur amongst those in action.
For some, qualification to the knockouts can be sealed here whilst for others, they face potential dead rubbers if suffer defeat.
Group A
AS Monaco vs Club Brugge (5:55pm)
Atletico Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund (8:00pm)
Borussia Dortmund are currently flying at top of group with eight goals and no clean sheets, and I struggle to see how Atletico Madrid will beat them despite having home advantage.
It however should be a tight game unlike the first leg a fortnight ago when Dortmund ran riot in a 4-0 win.
AS Monaco however have a tough six pointer on their hands because their meeting with Club Brugge could well determine who finishes third and goes into Europa League after Xmas.
Although their meeting in Brugge a fortnight ago finished 1-1, Monaco will be stronger at home and first half will be crucial, seeing as both are yet to net in second half.
Predictions:
AS Monaco 2-1 Club Brugge
Atletico Madrid 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
Group B (8:00pm)
Inter Milan vs Barcelona
Tottenham Hotspur vs PSV Eindhoven
Embed from Getty ImagesThis is an absolute must win for Tottenham if they’re to keep their knockout hopes alive, as long as Inter Milan lose at home to Barcelona.
PSV have given a strong account of themselves so far against far superior competition (4-0 thrashing by Barcelona aside), so will provide Spurs with a real home test.
If Spurs play like they did against Wolves on Saturday then they should easily win this but PSV won the last clash between these sides in England.
Ultimately, I am going for a Tottenham win because the crowd will provide them with extra confidence to get the job done.
Barcelona meanwhile should easily dispatch Inter Milan with their extra quality which was obvious last time out.
Predictions:
Inter Milan 0-3 Barcelona
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 PSV Eindhoven
Group C
Red Star Belgrade vs Liverpool (5:55pm)
Napoli vs PSG (8:00pm)
I can’t see anything other than a Liverpool win given their attacking form but Red Star Belgrade will provide a difficult atmosphere.
Over in Italy, Napoli will make life tough for PSG like they did against Liverpool before scoring a late winner but I can see a decent draw coming here.
Predictions:
Red Star Belgrade 0-2 Liverpool
Napoli 1-1 PSG
Group D (8:00pm)
Porto vs Lokomotiv Moscow
Schalke vs Galatarasay
Lokomotiv Moscow need a win if are to keep last 16 hopes alive but an away trip to Porto will be a step too far.
Schalke meanwhile meet Galatasaray in the first of two pivotal six pointers as they fight Porto for the two qualification spots.
The Bundesliga side is hard to predict because they are a tight unit who have scored just twice and conceded once. Galatasaray meanwhile have experienced a win, draw and loss whilst conceding just once.
A draw therefore would be a good bet here but I can see Schalke just edging it here given that they have netted in two of their opening three group games to the Turkish side’s one.
Predictions:
Porto 2-0 Lokomotiv Moscow
Schalke 1-0 Galatasaray
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