Group E 8 Atletico Madrid 7 Lazio 6 Feyenoord 1 Celtic
And … Lazio just scored. That would leave Celtic languishing in fourth place, qualifying for nothing. Feyenoord would have a terrific opportunity to advance if they can win at home against Atletico, given that they will finish this group in Scotland … oh, Lazio just scored again.
Group F 7 Borussia Dortmund 6 Paris St. Germain 5 AC Milan 4 Newcastle
So this group will either be settled today or be a royal mess.
Group G 12 Manchester City 9 Leipzig 1 Red Star Belgrade 1 Young Boys
The Belgrade side can move into the Europa League with a win in Switzerland. Or not.
Group H 9 Barcelona 9 Porto 6 Shakhtar Donetsk 0 Antwerp
Shakhtar lead Antwerp 1-0 late in that one, adding to the chances of having Champions League knockout games to inspire war-torn Ukraine. This afternoon, the action shifts to the all-Iberian clash in Barcelona.
The other game in Milan and Dortmund’s group: Open another tab in your favorite browser and please join Barry Glendenning as he watches Newcastle play PSG.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the ever-exciting Matchday 5 in the Champions League. Teams will clinch berths in the round of 16. Teams will be eliminated. Teams will muddle through to inconclusive results.
And if you’re worried about the space/time continuum and quantum singularities that can rip the fabric of the universe, turn your eyes away from the Large Hadron Collider across the Alps to Milan, where two massive names in US soccer will collide. Christian Pulisic starts for AC Milan. Gio Reyna is on the bench for Borussia Dortmund. (Yunus Musah is unavailable for Milan.)
Those teams are also in a group that is still very much up for grabs. After four games, Dortmund lead with seven points despite scoring on only three goals. Then it’s PSG with six and Milan with five, having scored only twice thus far. Newcastle has four points and isn’t out of it.
Speaking of English teams, we will keep an eye on Manchester City. They’ve already qualified for the next round but can win the group if they avoid losing to RB Leipzig today. Unlike Dortmund and Milan, those teams score the occasional goal.
Beau will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s how Newcastle are gearing up for their match against PSG:
Eddie Howe has acknowledged that Newcastle have reached a “defining moment” in their Champions League campaign and they will need to “play on the edge” at Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night.
Much has changed since Newcastle swatted a visibly stunned PSG aside 4-1 at St James’ Park in October, most notably the injury crisis which has left 12 senior players in treatment rooms on Tyneside rather than preparing for combat at the Parc des Princes. Two subsequent European defeats against Borussia Dortmund have left Newcastle bottom of Group F and aware that defeat in Paris will mean elimination from the competition’s group stages.
Yet, as Chelsea discovered when they endured a 4-1 loss of their own at Newcastle last Saturday, Howe’s players remain dangerous and never more so than when their adrenaline levels spike.
“We need to play on the edge,” said Howe, who knows a third-place finish next month would lead to his side being admitted to the knockout rounds of the Europa League. “Every team is at their best when they have that different emotion running through them. We need every ounce of motivation and energy to get a result here.
“But this is a defining moment in our campaign and we are going to give it everything. We are going to need to be as good as we know we can be. We are not in the position we want to be but this is a huge moment in our season. The motivation couldn’t be bigger. It’s imperative we don’t lose. Fear of failure is a major motivation in my career, losing doesn’t sit comfortably with me and that applies to this match.”