adminPARIS. — Five more clubs, including Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Chelsea, can secure their berths in the last 16 of the Champions League soccer in their fourth round of games tonight.
All the fixtures in Groups E, F, G and H kick-off 9:45pm,
In Group E, fresh from Sunday’s victory in the Manchester derby, Manchester City entertain the Russian champions still looking for a first win in Group E.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side threw away a two-goal lead away to CSKA two weeks ago and desperately need three points this time to boost their chances of reaching the last 16 for the second season running. City, who beat CSKA 5-2 at home last season, will hope that Sergio Aguero can continue the superb form which has seen him score nine times in his last eight outings.
CSKA slipped seven points off the pace at the top of the Russian Premier League at the weekend when they lost 1-0 at home to leaders Zenit. Swede Rasmus Elm and Kirill Panchenko are on the sidelines for the visitors.
In another Grioup E match tonight, Bayern Munich are at home against Roma.
After their extraordinary 7-1 win away to Roma two weeks ago which marked their biggest away victory in Europe and equalled Roma’s worst continental defeat, few would bet against Bayern coming out on top as the teams clash again.
Having won all three Group E games so far, the German champions will guarantee their place in the last 16 with a win, while a draw would also be enough if the other game also ends in a stalemate.
Pep Guardiola’s side came from behind to beat Borussia Dortmund on Saturday and are now undefeated in 15 matches.
However, Juan Bernat warned: “The first game was perfect for us, it was a crazy game, but now things start again at zero. It will be difficult and very competitive.”
Bayern are still without Thiago Alcantara, Pepe Reina, Javi Martinez, Holger Badstuber and Bastian Schweinsteiger, although the latter is nearing a comeback from a knee problem.
Roma have won just one of their last four games and were beaten 2-0 at Napoli in Serie A on Saturday. Rudi Garcia’s men would take a huge step towards a place in the last 16 if they managed to come away from Bavaria with three points though.
In Group F, Paris Saint-Germain will be through to the knock-out phase for the third season running if they manage to beat Apoel at the Parc des Princes and Ajax fail to win at home to Barcelona.
The French champions have raised their game in Europe in recent times, but on this occasion they could be forgiven for having one eye on Sunday’s crucial Ligue 1 fixture with Marseille, whom they trail by four points at the top of the table.
PSG are unbeaten in their last 30 home European games but toiled before defeating Apoel 1-0 in Cyprus a fortnight ago, Edinson Cavani netting a late winner. Laurent Blanc’s side have yet to lose this season, despite being without talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic since late September due to a nagging heel problem.
Apoel return to France for the first time since their last-16 win against Lyon in 2012.
Barcelona will guarantee their place in the last 16 if they win in Amsterdam or if they draw and Apoel do not win in France.
However, the Catalans will be wary after losing 2-1 at Ajax in the group stage last season and confidence is fragile as they head to the Netherlands having suffered consecutive defeats in La Liga.
Saturday saw a 1-0 home defeat to Celta Vigo, and midfielder Sergio Busquets said: “We need to improve and we are working on it. I hope we can end this bad run on Wednesday.” — AFP.
Online Reporter