Manchester United are one point away from winning Group A in this season’s Champions League.
We have a 100% win record from our opening four matches with a trip to FC Basel to come in three weeks’ time before hosting CSKA Moscow in our final group game, in December.
Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City are the only other sides to have collected maximum points at this stage, whilst we are the only team with a six-point cushion at the top of the group.
Assuming we go on to win the group from here, here are the current teams sitting in second place that we could be drawn against in the second round:
Bayern Munich
The German champions are three points behind PSG having been hammered 3-0 at the Parc des Princes back in September. That proved to be Carlo Ancelotti’s last game in charge. And whilst Jupp Heynckes has started with a succession of victories it would take something close to a miracle to win the group from here. Given they are also six points ahead of Celtic, Bayern Munich virtually have a runners-up spot sewn up.
Juventus
With Barcelona being held 0-0 at Olympiacos on Tuesday night, Juventus missed out on the opportunity to get within a point of the Spanish giants by failing to beat Sporting Club of Lisbon. The result leaves the Italian champions three points behind Barcelona and three ahead of the Portuguese side. This leaves Max Allegri’s side in a similar spot to Bayern Munich where it’s virtually impossible for them to overhaul Barcelona from here whilst they may not even need another point to finish second.
Sevilla
A crucial 2-1 win at home to Spartak Moscow last night saw Sevilla leapfrog the Russian side into second place in their group, one point below Liverpool. As they are only two points above Spartak and with the inferior head-to-head record they may well need to beat Liverpool at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium when they meet in three weeks’ time, if they don’t want to drop into the Europa League once again.
Shakhtar Donetsk
Nine points from their opening four games leaves Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk three behind Manchester City but six ahead of Napoli. They travel to Naples in their next outing where should they avoid defeat or lose by a one-goal margin and score at least two goals in Italy, they would be guaranteed of a top two finish, likely in second.
FC Porto
In the only group without either Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, a Premier League or La Liga side, FC Porto currently sit four points behind Besiktas in Group G. The Portuguese side travel to Turkey next to face the team that beat them 3-1 on home soil to start the campaign. They are only two points ahead of RB Leipzig and four ahead of AS Monaco whom they host in their final game.
Real Madrid
Victory for Tottenham Hotspur away to Borussia Dortmund or at home to APOEL FC would see the Premier League side win Group H. That would likely see Real Madrid finish second as the defending champions have a five point lead over Borussia Dortmund whom they host in their final game. Victory in Cyprus before that would guarantee a top two finish for Zinedine Zidane’s side.
