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The final two match days of UEFA Champions League group stage are upon us, and it couldn’t have been more exciting than this with almost half of the teams not assured of a pre-quarter finals spot.

Some of the perennial favourites of the competition like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus, have already secured next round’s tickets and can afford to put their feet up and rest a few key players. But English fans will have to endure two dreadful nights as all the EPL clubs barring Manchester City are hanging by a cliff – one wrong move and an UCL last 16 berth can so easily turn into an UEFA Europa League last 32 spot (third placed UCL clubs move into Europa League’s last 32).

Century old clubs, high profile managers, spirited supporters all busy with their maths notebooks scribbling out permutations and combinations of the points table. Lets take a simplified tour of all the eight groups and find out what the Mourinhos, Van Gaals, Wengers and Nevilles have to advise their boys ahead of season-changing European nights.

GROUP A

Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain, Shakhtar Donetsk, Malmo

This group is done and dusted, 10-time UCL champions Real and current French League winners PSG are already through with 13 and 10 points respectively.

Under-fire Rafa Benitez will be spared of the ‘last minute desperation’ and he will now be able to peacefully field Denis Cheryshev against minnows Malmo (3pts.) without getting his club banished from the competition.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani would be polishing their boots as PSG welcome Shakhtar (3 pts.) at home.

However, all is not lost for Malmo and Shakhtar as one of the teams will get a shot at Europa League.

(WEDNESDAY)

01:15 am (IST) Paris Saint Germain v/s Shakhtar Donetsk

01:15 am (IST) Real Madrid v/s Malmoe FF

GROUP B

Wolfsburg, Manchester United, PSV Eindhoven, CSKA Moscow

United (8 pts.) visit Wolfsburg (9 pts.) while PSV (7 pts.) play hosts to CSKA (4 pts). All four teams will keep an eye on each others’ fixtures as both the ties will play equal part in deciding the outcome of the group.

A win for either the Red Devils or Wolfsburg will earn them a safe entry to the next round. While PSV will take the second place is they trump CSKA.

The Moscow club will however be a tough nut to crack as a win would take them to 7 points and a Europa spot along with it (CSKA have a better head to head with PSV). If this happens or if CSKA hold PSV, then both United and Wolfsburg will progress whatsoever the outcome of their match.

United will be well served if they follow the ‘attack, attack, attack’ rants of supporters and get rid of their ‘goal less draw’ stigma as a stalemate won’t be enough if PSV earn three points.

(WEDNESDAY)

01.15 am PSV Eindhoven v/s CSKA Moscow

01:15 am Wolfsburg v/s Manchester United

GROUP C

Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Galatasaray, Astana

Atletico and Benfica (both 10 pts.) have already qualified for the pre-quarters. A fight for top spot will be on when Diego Pablo Simeone’s men visit the Portuguese champions.

It will be a direct shoot-out between Galatasaray (4 pts.) and Astana (3 pts.) for Europe’s second best competition.

(WEDNESDAY)

01:15 am Benfica v/s Atletico Madrid

01:15 am Galatasaray v/s FC Astana

GROUP D

Juventus, Manchester City, Borussia Monchengladbach, Sevilla

Just as Group C, Juventus (11 pts.) and City (9 pts.) have done more than enough to reach last 16 and their sole motive would be to finish on pole position.

Gladbach (5 pts.) travel to Manchester with the hope of bagging full points as a draw or loss would open up the door for Sevilla (3 pts.) to snatch away an Europa berth with a victory over the Italian champions.

(WEDNESDAY)

01:15 am Manchester City v/s Borussia Moenchengladbach

01:15 am Sevilla v/s Juventus​

GROUP E

Barcelona, Roma, Bayer Leverkusen, BATE Borisov

The Catalans (13 pts.) have been on a high since their treble triumph last season and it is no surprise that they are the runaway winners of the group. However the real competition lies between Roma (5 pts.), Leverkusen (5 pts.) and BATE Borisov (4 pts.).

The Germans face an uphill task as they visit Camp Nou while Roma are away to Belarus.

If both matches end as draws or if both Roma and Leverkusen earn maximum points, then the Italians will progress along with Barca courtesy their better head to head against Leverkusen.

In the midst of the heavyweights, BATE Borisov can steal a last 16 place if they beat Roma and Barca edge out Javier Chicharito Hernandez powered Germans.

In case of a Roma draw and Leverkusen loss, the latter will drop down to Europa in spite of same points as Borisov (as they have superiority in head to head clashes).

(THURSDAY)

01:15 am Bayer Leverkusen v/s Barcelona

01:15 am Roma v/s BATE Borisov

GROUP F

Bayern Munich, Olympiakos, Arsenal, Dinamo Zagreb

Bayern (12 pts.) will progress as the winners of the group  while a draw against Arsenal (6 pts.) would be enough for Olympiakos (9 pts.).

Arsene Wenger’s men need to win by a margin big enough to overturn the 3-2 deficit suffered against the Greeks at home. A victory by two clear goals would be beneficial whereas if the Gunners win by a single goal cushion, then it should be a high-scoring encounter (eg. 4-3, 3-2).

Zagreb (3 pts.) is out of reckoning of even an Europa berth.

(THURSDAY)

01:15 am Dinamo Zagreb v/s Bayern Munich

01:15 am Olympiacos v/s Arsenal

GROUP G

Chelsea, FC Porto, Dynamo Kyiv, Maccabi Tel Aviv

This has been one of the exciting groups of the event since Day 1 and still it doesn’t cease to be competitive.

Mourinho’s battered and bruised Chelsea (10 points) welcome Porto (10 pts.) while Kyiv (8 pts.) are at home to Tel Aviv (0).

The Blues only need a draw to guarantee progression as a stalemate would keep the Portuguese ahead of Chelsea on head to head but if Kyiv win, which will happen most likely, then three teams will end up tied on 11 points at it will boil down to a three-way mini league between Chelsea, Porto and Kyiv.

All three would have five points from games against one another, so goal difference would be taken into account and Kyiv would therefore jump to the top with goal difference of ‘+1’, Chelsea would finish second with ‘0’ goal difference and Porto would go into the Europa League with ‘-1’ differential.

Till the fourth round, Porto was in cruise control and was expected to be the first team to progress, but a goal keeping howler from former Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas helped Kyiv to a 2-0 triumph and with that they also crawled back into the contest. Therefore an outright win is the best thing that the Julen Lopetegui coached side will aim for.

However if Tel Aviv can miraculously deny full points to Kyiv, then Mourinho and his bitter rival Casillas can share a smile and progress to the next round simultaneously. If not then either ‘the special one’ or the ‘saint’ will have to leave the stage.

(THURSDAY)

01:15 am Chelsea v/s FC Porto

​01:15 am Dynamo Kyiv v/s Maccabi Tel Aviv

GROUP H

Zenit St. Petersburg, KAA Gent, Valencia, Lyon

Manchester United legend, Gary Neville’s biggest test beckons him in his very first match in charge of Valencia (6 pts.), who will play at home against Lyon (1 pt.).

The Spanish side can progress with a victory, provided Gent (7 pts.) don’t manage to eke out full points against high-flying Zenit (15 pts.).

A draw for Valencia and a reverse for Gent will still take the Belgians to the next stage due to their better head to head record.

(THURSDAY)

01:15 am Gent v/s Zenit St. Petersburg

01:15 am Valencia v/s Lyon