By The road to get to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) is at its peak this week as Inter Milan, Paris St Germain and Liverpool among seven clubs are set to sweat it out into the last 16.
Tuesday’s matches includes a number of mouth watering encounters as Liverpool hope for one of those knockout European nights at Anfield against Napoli in Group C.
While Inter will be relying on Group B winners Barcelona to do them a favour and see off Tottenham Hotspur.
Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool, sitting third in the group on six points behind PSG (eight) and leaders Napoli (nine).
The Premier League leaders must win the match, to have any chance of progress, while the Serie A side need just a draw at Anfield to guarantee their spot in the next round.
Napoli could even lose and still go through if PSG lose to Red Star Belgrade.
Should Neymar and co prevail in Serbia, Liverpool would need to win 1-0 or by two goals or more to pip Napoli on their head-to-head record.
Liverpool’s Egypt striker Mo Salah certainly looks capable having scored a superb hat-trick at Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.
If Napoli, PSG and Liverpool all finish on nine points, the Merseyside club would finish top with second place determined by the scoreline at Anfield.
A group stage exit for PSG would be humiliating for new manager Thomas Tuchel given the club’s Qatari owners’ desperation to see the French champions conquer Europe.
After claiming one point from their first three matches in Group B Tottenham looked out of contention.
But consecutive wins against PSV Eindhoven and Inter mean they head to the Nou Camp in second place and knowing a win will guarantee them a place in the last-16 for the third time.
The 12 teams who have qualified already for the knockout stages are Ajax, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Juventus.
Others are Manchester City, Manchester United, Porto, Real Madrid, Roma and Schalke 04.
It is important tonote that only Barca, Porto and Real Madrid have secured top spot in their respective groups.
