The penultimate matchday of the UEFA Champions League group stage kicks off with a number of teams poised to clinch berths in the knockout stage, cement their place atop the group table or at the very least stay in contention for a third-place finish and a drop down to the Europa League knockout stage.
The two teams to come out of the treacherous Group A could be decided by day's end, unless Napoli can make things interesting by avoiding a loss to Manchester City in one of Tuesday's high-profile matches.
Manchester United, meanwhile, faces Benfica with first place in Group C on the line and has turned to Dimitar Berbatov, who gets the start in a crucial game in place of an injured Wayne Rooney.
If you will be watching any of Tuesday's Champions League games, please feel free to share any thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below. Enjoy the action (TV schedule is after the jump):
TUESDAY'S UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ON TV
2:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Channel – Manchester United vs. Benfica
2:45 p.m. – Fox Soccer Plus/FoxSoccer.tv – Napoli vs. Manchester City
2:45 p.m. – FoxSoccer.tv/DirecTV – Bayern Munich vs. Villarreal
2:45 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv/DirecTV – Real Madrid vs. Dinamo Zagreb
2:45 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv/DirecTV – Trabzonspor vs. Inter Milan
2:45 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv/DirecTV – Lyon vs. Ajax
2:45 p.m. - FoxSoccer.tv/DirecTV – Otelul Galati vs. FC Basel
Enjoy the action
It’s a long list of clubs with legitimate claims of egregious officiating going against them at Old Trafford. In my mind nothing will top the study done to prove that United was like clockwork given substantially more extra time when they were losing and needed it than when they were winning.
And not a peep about it by the commentators when their own feed is showing him to be a yard beyond the last defender when the cross comes in.
Just rewatched the first MANU goal, more offside then I originally thought…. ugh, it is hard to watch this competition when it feels like every single questionable call goes in favor of the superclubs
It’s the proverbial pipe-dream.
Villareal has 0 points and 2 goals through 5 games and have conceded 12 goals. They lose by an average of 2 goals a game.
Bayern has 13 points out of a possible 15, City has 7, almost half.
The odds of Napoli tying or losing to Villareal AND City beating Bayern is probably 100 to 1.
No. A Villareal draw with Napoli at Villareal and a City win over Bayern at Manchester would give City 10 points and Napoli 9 points. City would go through. Don’t count them out yet.
Fun fact for everyone, Diego Maradona is Sergio Aguero’s father-in-law.
To michael, beating Bayern will probably not be enough. They have to also hope that Napoli lose to Villareal, who haven’t gotten a point off of anyone. Napoli firmly in the drivers seat to advance.
Not only Aguero but Nasri and Johnson… against a team that hasn’t lost at home in European competition since 1994. Yes, TWO DECADES.
And there it goes. Man City lose and need an absolute miracle to advance out of their group. Shockingly terrible personnel decisions that make Bob Bradley look like Sir Alex.
Beat bayern and hope that napoli drop points at villarreal.
Villarreal have zero points through five games.
Bleak for city.
Leaving Aguero on the bench in a must win against a great Napoli team might be one of the dumbest Managerial decisions I’ve ever seen from a top flight manager.
Now they have to beat Bayern to advance.
Basel is choking! The Galati comeback is on!
Hard to argue with that at this point. Madrid is rolling over everyone and anyone and Barcelona hasn’t lost a match yet this season in all competitions.
Unless they can beat Leverkeusen at Leverkeusen tomorrow.
Chelsea has to tie or beat a good Valencia squad to advance.
Is there any question anymore that Barcelona and Real Madrid are heads above every other club in the world?
What RM, without many starters including Ronaldo, is currently doing to DZ is just a joy to watch.
LOL Yeah
It’s a dog and pony show at Old Trafford, they play by different rules.
Champions League play so far has not been good for English sides. United is in danger of not qualifying and if City’s result holds they fall to 3rd place with their final match against Bayern.
Handball not called, another goal
Anyone streaming games on justin.tv?
Yup.
As of right now Basel is 2 goals back from United in GD. So If United loses by 1 and Basel scores at least 1 without conceding in the second half it will even them up… and I think Basel has the next tiebreaker which is away goals. Either way that last game is going to be a firecracker if United doesn’t win this game.
Would they?
Let’s see United has 8 points right now… so two draws would get them to 10 but leave Basel at 9. You are right.
So if United ties this game then Basel has to beat them. If United loses this game and Basel continues scoring then Basel only has to tie United to advance ahead of them based on goal differential.
No kidding, it will be must-see TV. Though a United draw today would mean they could park the bus against Basel and play for a draw.
glad to see i was not the only one who thought that.
These english commentators are so biased it is sad, i am more objective being a diehard Benfica fan
Basel has a third before half. If they continue this goal scoring in the second half it will make the final game really interesting.
United would also get through with two draws.
Ah you’re right they’ve only played 4 at this point. If United doesn’t win this game it makes the Basel game a must win for them depending on how the scores end up.
Um, except for the part where they have one more game to play. Though Basel is hosting that game, and they drew in Manchester…
I’m so biased that I’m going to agree with you despite the fact that I’m not watching the game.
Man do I dislike manchester united. Strongly dislike even.
And there goes that as Berbatov scores on a header despite being offside.
This is crazy.
Basel has cut the GD to 3. If Basel scores 2 more goals without conceding and United lets in 1 more goal without scoring then United will not make it out of the group stage.
I am a bit biased, but that looked offside on the header
Absolutely, they are going hard at United right now forcing errors left and right.
Great game between City and Napoli. Lots of back and forth , seem evenly matched. Cavani really is talented.
Benfica looks set to get a result here, they’ve really impressed me this season
Speaking of curb stomping, Real Madrid is up 3-0 in 9 minutes.
Jeez so close to a golazo that would have been Benfica’s second in the first 10 minutes. United is getting curb stomped right now, pure domination.
Terrible own goal from Phil Jones.
United goes down in the 3rd minute, what a crazy goal.
GOOOOLLLL BENFICA!!!!
It’s not free. It’s a bait and switch, classic Fox Soccer. You enter a promo code from FB on their website and get “3 days free access repeating onto a monthly USD 19.99 subscription.”
What soccer game on GOL TV today?
Did I hear it’s free on FSC online? I can’t seem to find it.
so whats everyone’s pick as the best game to watch. ManCity vs Napoli ?
wish they were showing the lyon v. ajax game instead of the madrid v. zagreb game on fsn. so much at stake between lyon and ajax vs. a foregone conclusion for madrid