The debut of the new, expanded Champions League format needed very little time to receive praise from fans around the globe – more matches, more different matches rather than the repetitive group stage clashes offered a lot of excitement already, alongside some pretty unexpected results.
If you take a look at the current table, you might be surprised by how much you’d have to scroll down for the king of the Champions League, Real Madrid, to appear on your phone screen. Los Blancos head into the sixth round holding the last spot that leads to the knockout stage playoffs after suffering three defeats in five matches. For comparison, they only lost two games in their previous two Champions League campaign.
A few places lower, another giant struggling – PSG couldn’t get things going in Europe and, as things stand, find themselves out of the next round. An own goal in the 90th minute by Girona’s goalkeeper gave them the win in Round 1, and they haven’t added anything to the W column since – losing all three matches against top European sides (Bayern, Atlético Madrid and Arsenal). Good news for Luis Enrique is that their remaining fixtures are somewhat easier and they should really find themselves in the next round, barring any major surprises.
Speaking of surprises, however, we’ve already seen a fair share of them during the course of this season’s tournament. The highlight probably goes to Sporting CP’s thrashing of Manchester City, but we should also mention Lille who surprised the reigning champions of Europe in Round 2. Stuttgart beat Juventus away from home only to give Crvena zvezda their first win of the season by conceding 5 goals in Belgrade. So, by what we’ve seen so far we can only conclude that nobody is safe and no points are given here.
Looking forward, here’s a short overview of the most exciting fixtures in Round 6.
Atalanta – Real Madrid, Tuesday 21:00 CET
Rerun of the UEFA Super Cup played in Warsaw this August, two teams come into this game in significantly different situations. Despite a long list of injured players and an unsecure start to the league campaign, Real Madrid have managed to get a few good results under their belt and profit from their main rivals weak form to catch up in LaLiga.
The Champions League, however, has been a different story. Stunned by Milan at the Santiago Bernabéu and outclassed by Liverpool at Anfield, they’ve been far from their brilliant best in their favourite competition. Ahead of them, another tough challenge.
Atalanta is on a 14-match undefeated run, winning 12 of those 14 matches. They are yet to lose in the Champions League and have only conceded one goal in the tournament so far. With their wounds from the Super Cup still fresh, I Nerazzurri will certainly be hungry for revenge against a vulnerable Real Madrid side, if such a thing ever existed.
Bayer Leverkusen – Inter Milan, Tuesday 21:00 CET
This pairing sums up the very essence of the Champions League – the champions of Germany face the champions of Italy.
After a truly remarkable season in which they only lost one match across all competitions, the UEFA Europa League final against Atalanta, Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen look much less alien and much more beatable this season, but are still a very serious contender capable of making life miserable to every opponent.
They only fell against a formidable Liverpool side in the Champions League but managed to beat Milan and absolutely outclass Feyenoord (0-4) and RB Salzburg (5-0). Goals normally galore when Leverkusen play, but the defence they’re up against today is definitely the toughest they had to face so far.
Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan is on a quest of bettering their 2023 campaign in which they fell short to Manchester City in the very final in Istanbul. The foundation of the team is always the same – a highly organized team ruthless in defence. It’s exactly that approach they take when defending that has allowed them to sit in the second place on the table despite only scoring six goals in five games. A clash of two different approaches, a clash of philosophies one could argue, a clash of true champions.
Arsenal – Monaco, Wednesday 21:00 CET
If the previous was a clash worthy of the Champions League, then we could tip this one as the Vice-Champions League as the second placed teams from England and France are set to face each other in the “Thierry Henry derby”. Curiously, two of the most important men in Arsenal’s modern history, both Thierry Henry and the legendary manager Arsene Wenger have a connection with Monaco as well.
Even though they do share some legends, there’ll be no love lost on the Emirates pitch tomorrow evening. Two teams with stylish, attacking football etched deep in their roots, two teams currently in the Top 8 on the standings, this one should be fun to watch. It would definitely be our go-to pick for the neutrals if it weren’t for the next match on this list.
Borussia Dortmund – Barcelona, Wednesday 21:00 CET
A combined number of 34 goals in the Champions League this season between them. The two highest-scoring teams in the tournament. After losing to Monaco while down to 10 men, Barcelona went on to score at least three goals in each of their remaining four matches, hitting 5 goals twice in the process.
On the other side, Dortmund scored 3 twice, both times away from home, had a 0-2 lead at the Bernabéu before falling apart and put an astonishing 7 goals past Celtic in front of their fans.
Both of these teams feature two players in the top 10 goalscorer’s list this season. Lewandowski headlines it with 7, followed by teammate Raphinha who scored 5 thus far. Out of the 16 goals Dortmund scored in the competition, half of them were scored by two players – Serhou Guirassy and Jamie Gittens both have 4.
With Dortmund currently lying in third and Barça in fourth place and given their attacking prowess, fun is guaranteed with these two!
Juventus – Manchester City, Wednesday 21:00 CET
Another matchup that sees it’s protagonists very close to each other on the table, but much, much lower than either of them would have liked or imagined to be at this point of the season. Manchester City lie in 17th place, and Juventus down in 19th.
Glimpses of brilliance, patches of unrecognizable impotence. It’s happened to both of them this season, both domestically and in Europe, with the English side going through an especially rough patch with only one win in their last eight encounters. Juventus haven’t been much better either, drawing their last four and only winning twice in their last ten matches.
You could set this fixture up as a confrontation of two different ends of the spectrum. An attacking force compromised by a shaky defence and a solid, organized defence that saves the day when the strikers don’t appear.
All in all, two teams of huge stature, both in desperate need of improvement, not only result-wise but more importantly, performance-wise. They’ll both be looking to make up for the points they’ve dropped thus far, with their fixtures in January being far from easy. Whilst both of them have to face Club Brugge, Juventus will host Benfica who beat them in both of their encounters during the 2022/23 season and Manchester City will travel to Paris to face PSG in what could easily be a do or die affair for Les Parisiens.
Conclusion
As the picture is slowly getting painted and the pieces falling to their place, every thing becomes much clearer regarding the clubs’ final positions. For some, this week represents the last chance to stay within reach, others are in desperate need to keep their heads above water. Whatever may be your match choice for the upcoming two evenings, we doubt you’ll be disappointed.