UEFA Champions League: Matchday 6 Preview
The League Phase of this season’s UEFA Champions League is reaching its conclusion, and here we take a look ahead at the action to come on matchday six.
The League Phase of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League is nearing its end, and we are close to finding out the fate of all of the football clubs participating in this season’s competition. The sixth round of fixtures in this highly prestigious competition is now upon us, with all of the 18 fixtures in total taking place throughout Tuesday 10th December, and Wednesday 11th December 2024.
There are two Premier League Clubs who, at the time of writing, sit in the top eight of the League and as a result, are on track for automatic qualification for the Round of 16. The first of these two clubs – Arne Slot’s Liverpool – are sitting at the summit of the standings having won all 5 of their opening matches to earn the maximum total of 15 points with a great goal difference of +11 to boot. They are though just 2 points above Inter Milan in second place.
The other English Club sat within the top eight in Arsenal, who are currently joint sixth with Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen and France’s AS Monaco with 10 points after their 5 matches to date. The Gunners are currently 5 points adrift of Liverpool as things stand.
As for Aston Villa, they sit just outside of the top eight by the narrowest of margins with Monaco in 8th only ahead on goals scored. Finally, Manchester City are in 17th place at the moment with just 8 points from their 5 matches to date.
The table could change dramatically over the course of Matchday Six, and here we are taking a look ahead at all of the enthralling action to come in what is the latest round of fixtures in the League Phase of this season’s UEFA Champions League.
Girona (Spain) vs. Liverpool (England) – Tuesday 10th December, Estadi Montilivi, 17:45 KO
The first fixture we are looking at is between Girona and Liverpool. Arne Slot’s Reds will travel to the Estadi Montilivi on Tuesday evening in search of a sixth win from as many matches in this season’s Champions League League Phase. Kick-off will be at 17:45.
If the Reds do beat their Spanish counterparts, then the Merseyside Club will remain at the top of the table and if other results go their way, then Slot’s side could extend the gap between themselves and second place to a maximum of 5 points. If Girona wins, then they could reach as high as 24th place.
Liverpool’s most recent Champions League outing saw them take on 15 time European Champions Real Madrid, against whom they secured a historic 2 – 0 victory at Anfield against Los Blancos. The goal scorers for the Merseyside Club were Alexis Mac Allister (52’) and Cody Gakpo (76’).
This will be the first time ever that these two clubs have met in the UEFA Champions League, or in any other competitive competition.
RB Leipzig (Germany) vs. Aston Villa (England) – Tuesday 10th December, RB Arena, 20:00 KO
The next game that we are taking a look at is the one that will see Germany’s RB Leipzig take on an Aston Villa side led by their Spanish Head Coach Unai Emery at the RB Arena on the evening of Tuesday 10th December 2024 in what will be a 20:00 Kick-Off.
Victory for Villa would see them jump into the top eight, which would see them take a step closer to qualifying automatically for the 2024/25 Champions League’s Round of 16. As for Leipzig, a win would see the Bundesliga outfit potentially climb as high as 25th on goal difference alone if other results go their way.
Villa’s most recent Champions League match was a highly competitive 0 – 0 draw with Italian Giants Juventus at Villa Park. Emery’s side could even have won this game 1 – 0 right at the end, had Morgan Rogers’ last minute close range strike not been ruled out by VAR.
This will be the very first time that Aston Villa has met RB Leipzig in a competitive fixture, not just in the history of the UEFA Champions League. The two clubs did meet in pre-season though ahead of the start of the 2024/25 season, when RB Leipzig emerged as 2 – 0 winners.
Juventus (Italy) vs. Manchester City (England) – Wednesday 11th December, Allianz Stadium, 20:00 KO
One of the more eye-catching fixtures to come on the Sixth Matchday of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League’s League Phase is the battle between Italian Giants Juventus and the reigning Premier League Champions Manchester City, led by Pep Guardiola. This fixture will be taking place at the Allianz Stadium in Turin on the evening of Wednesday 11th December 2024, with kick-off at 20:00.
Victory for Manchester City would see them significantly narrow the gap between themselves and the top eight, with Guardiola’s side targeting automatic qualification for the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Round of 16. As for Juventus, the Turn outfit would leapfrog City in the standings and bring themselves closer to the top eight.
City’s most recent Champions League game did see them draw 3 – 3 with Dutch outfit Feyenoord at the Etihad Stadium, which saw Erling Haaland (44’ – Penalty, 53’) and Ilkay Gundogan (50’) both score for the Cityzens. It was Anis Hadj-Moussa (74’), Santiago Gimenez (82’), and David Hancko (89’) who all scored for the visitors.
The most recent League Phase victory in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League saw the Cityzens emerge as emphatic 5 – 0 winners against Sparta Prague of the Czech Republic at the Etihad, which saw Phil Foden (3’), Erling Haaland (58’, 68’), John Stones (64’), and Matheus Nunes (88’ – Penalty) all score for City.
As of the time of writing, Juventus have gone head to head on two occasions so far, to date. Juve have won both of these previous fixtures in the Champions League, most recently in Group D of the 2015/16 competition on Matchday Five, when a goal from Mario Mandzukic (18’) sealed the win for the Old Lady on that day.
Arsenal (England) vs. AS Monaco (France) – Wednesday 11th December, Emirates Stadium, 20:00 KO
The fourth and final fixture of the 2024/25 League Phase of the Champions League that we will look at in-depth is the one that will see Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal welcome French Ligue 1 Club AS Monaco to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday 11th December 2024. It will be a 20:00 kick-off in North London.
A win would see the Gunners able to climb as high as second place in the table if other results also go their way across Europe this week. As for their French counterparts Monaco, they will strengthen their grip on their spot in the top eight of the League Phase with all three points.
Arsenal’s most recent match in this season’s Champions League saw them emphatically beat Portuguese Heavyweights Sporting CP 5 – 1 away from home in Lisbon at the Estadio Jose Alvalade. The goal scorers that day for them was Gabriel Martinelli (7’), Kai Havertz (22’), Gabriel (45+1’), Bukayo Saka (65’ – Penalty), and Leandro Trossard (82’). It was Goncalo Inacio who scored the only goal of the game for the home team early on in the second half (47’).
Over the years, these two clubs have met just twice in the entire history of the UEFA Champions League, and they have one win each. In the first game between Arsenal, Monaco won 3 – 1 at the Emirates in the first leg of the 2014/15 Round of 16.
Despite being knocked out on the now abandoned away goals rule, they did at least manage to beat their French counterparts 2 – 0 in Monaco in the second leg thanks to goals from Olivier Giroud (36’) and Aaron Ramsey (79’).
Other Matches
Below are all of the remaining League Phase matches taking place on the sixth matchday of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League this week.
- Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) vs. Celtic (Scotland) – Tuesday 10th December, Stadion Maksimir, 17:45 KO.
- Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) vs. Inter Milan (Italy) – Tuesday 10th December, BayArena, 20:00 KO.
- Atalanta (Italy) vs. Real Madrid (Spain) – Tuesday 10th December, Stadio di Bergamo, 20:00 KO.
- Club Brugge (Belgium) vs. Sporting CP (Portugal) – Tuesday 10th December, Jan Breydelstadion, 20:00 KO.
- Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) vs. Bayern Munich (Germany) – Tuesday 10th December, Veltins Arena, 20:00 KO.
- RB Salzburg (Austria) vs. Paris Saint-Germain (France) – Tuesday 10th December, Stadion Salzburg, 20:00 KO.
- Brest (France) vs. PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) – Tuesday 10th December, Stade de Roudourou, 20:00 KO.
- Atletico Madrid (Spain) vs. Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) – Wednesday 11th December, Estadio Metropolitano, 17:45 KO.
- LOSC Lille (France) vs. Sturm Graz (Austria) – Wednesday 11th December, Stade Pierre Mauroy, 17:45 KO.
- Borussia Dortmund (Germany) vs. FC Barcelona (Spain) – Wednesday 11th December, Signal Iduna Park, 20:00 KO.
- Benfica (Portugal) vs. Bologna (Italy) – Wednesday 11th December, Estadio da Luz, 20:00 KO.
- AC Milan (Italy) vs. Red Star Belgrade (Serbia) – Wednesday 11th December, San Siro, 20:00 KO.
- Feyenoord (Netherlands) vs. Sparta Praha (Czech Republic) – Wednesday 11th December, De Kuip, 20:00 KO.
- Stuttgart (Germany) vs. BSC Young Boys (Switzerland) – Wednesday 11th December, MHP Arena, 20:00 KO.
Excitement and anticipation are building ahead of the start of the sixth round of action to finally get underway in the latest Matchday of the League Phase in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League.
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