Five knockout stage places are up for grabs in the UEFA Champions League this week, offering enough late drama to stop the final round of group ties from being a damp squib.
Eleven teams are already through from a group stage that produced too many one-sided matches for comfort. Only half of the final group games involve teams playing for a spot in the last 16, while the remainder will decide who wins each group to gain a theoretical advantage in the draw and who qualifies for the UEFA Europa League.
Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk qualified by securing a top-two finish in the four-team groups.
Italian pair Juventus and AS Roma, and English Premiership duo Manchester City and Liverpool are among 11 sides battling to join them, with Roma’s match at home to City tomorrow the highlight of the ties.
Roma, City and CSKA Moscow all have five points in Group E, but the head-to-head system favors the Giallorossi, who need a win to qualify, or a draw if the Russian side fail to beat runaway leaders Bayern.
Such a scenario barely looked likely when Roma lost 7-1 at home to die Roten, but City’s loss to CSKA threw the race wide open.
The English champions need to win and hope CSKA do not beat Bayern, while the Moscow-based club can only qualify if they win and Roma do not beat City.
The situation is simpler in Group B, where Liverpool must beat Basel to go through, while the Swiss club need a draw to oust the five-time European champions.
Basel made the last 16 at the expense of Manchester United three seasons ago and Real coach Carlo Ancelotti believes they can repeat the trick: “They’re [Basel] in better shape than Liverpool at the moment, they are in very good physical condition.”
In Group C, AS Monaco need a draw at home to Zenit St Petersburg to follow Leverkusen through, while the Russian club need a win.
If the game ends 0-0, Les Rouge et Blanc will qualify, despite having scored only two goals in six games, one less than the previous low set by Roma and Villarreal.
Serie A champions Juventus need a point at home to Atletico today to avoid a repeat of last season’s failure to make the last 16.
If they lose and Olympiakos beat Malmo FF at home, the Greek champions would qualify instead.
The final place at stake is in Group G, where a draw at Chelsea will be enough for Portugal’s Sporting if German rivals Schalke 04 fail to win at NK Maribor.
The Bundesliga side must beat the Slovenian champions and hope that Sporting lose their clash.
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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