Manchester United root for a draw

Before the final round of the group stage of the Champions League, the matches of which will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, four spots in the 1/8 finals remain vacant. Ten clubs are vying for them, and among those who may well be left without the playoffs are PSG and Manchester United. Moreover, the situation of the English grandee generally looks almost catastrophic.

Group A

This group is in for a hot ending. It is tempting, of course, to say that Bayern, which easily took first place, is not participating in it, but this is not so. Still participating. The fact is that the fate of Manchester United largely depends on the Munich people and their attitude. After five rounds, he is in last place, one point behind two competitors in the fight for the second spot in the playoffs from the quartet – Copenhagen and Galatasaray. And the English grandee can avoid collapse only in the event of a home victory over the German grandee. And it will have to be obtained against the backdrop of the terrible impressions left by the performance of the Manchester team in the 16th round of the national championship. On Saturday, Bournemouth defeated them without difficulty – 3:0, which again started talk about the resignation of the rival coach Erik ten Hag, since in every second match his team demonstrates such stupidity and disorganization that it is even a shame to attribute them to a wave of injuries.

Bayern, however, disgraced themselves even worse than Manchester United in their championship. Eintracht destroyed the giants with a score of 5:1. However, it is not a fact that this is a good sign. Bayern has no tournament motivation, but such slaps in themselves are an excellent incentive to tear the veins in the next match after them, even if it has no practical significance.

The problem for Manchester United is that beating Bayern alone is not enough. It will advance to the play-offs only if Copenhagen and Galatasaray end amicably. If this option does not work out, the winner of the Danish-Turkish pair will end up in the 1/8 finals.

In it, of course, Copenhagen seems to be the favorite. He plays at home and has a tiny advantage over the Istanbul team in terms of additional indicators (the Copenhagen team have a better goal difference, and the head-to-head meeting in the first round ended in a draw). It may be useful to the Danish club if Manchester United, having waited for the desired outcome of the parallel match, fails to cope with Bayern. What warms the hearts of Galatasaray fans before leaving is the memory that he will be playing at the same stadium where he achieved his first great success in 2000, defeating Arsenal in the UEFA Cup final.

Group B

Arsenal and PSV reached the play-offs of the Champions League, and Lens and Sevilla in France will determine which of them will get third place and the right to compete in the play-offs of the European League in the spring. A draw will be enough for the home team.

Group C

Napoli and Braga will be fighting for the second ticket to the Champions League play-offs after the one that Real Madrid booked. The Neapolitans are not in the best condition right now, but they have a solid margin of safety. Napoli, which is three points ahead of the Portuguese club, needs a draw or even a defeat with a minimal score at home. In the first round, he beat Braga 2:1, and the Italian club’s goal difference was “plus 4” versus “plus 1” for its competitor.

Group D

This group has a simple layout. Real Sociedad with Russian Arsen Zakharyan in the lineup and Inter remain in the Champions League, Salzburg will fight with Benfica, which is three points behind, which is visiting it, for the Europa League.

Group E

There is no intrigue at all in this quartet. Atlético and Lazio are in the 1/8 finals of the Champions League, Feyenoord are in the Europa League, Celtic is leaving the European competition.

Group F

PSG is the second European giant, along with Manchester United, to approach the final round in limbo. But it is, of course, not as suspended as that of the Manchesters. PSG are playing away at Borussia Dortmund, who have already secured a valuable spot and are two points ahead of Newcastle and Milan. The guarantee of reaching the playoffs for the Parisians is exclusively a victory. In case of defeat, we must hope for a draw in the match between Newcastle and Milan, otherwise failure. Their own draw could also turn into one if the English club gets the better of the Italian club at home. Newcastle has superiority in personal meetings over PSG, the Milanese do not, and in principle, nothing but winning suits them.

Group G

Here everything is as crystal clear as in Group E. Manchester City and Leipzig are in the play-offs of the Champions League, Young Boys are in the play-offs of the Europa League, Crvena Zvezda are out of the European Cup spring.

Group H

The tournament in this group will be crowned by a match in which Porto and Shakhtar will find out which of them will join Barcelona as the number one participant in the 1/8 finals of the European Cup. Before this clash, the Portuguese and Ukrainian clubs are level on points. But the situation, of course, is more pleasant for Porto. He plays at home and, moreover, can limit himself to a draw due to a win against Shakhtar in the first round with a score of 3:1.

Alexey Dospehov