2024/25 UEFA Champions League: Matchday Five Preview.

We are now approaching the latter stages of the League Phase of this season’s UEFA Champions League, and here we are taking a look ahead at the fifth week of action in this highly prestigious club competition.

The fifth round of matches in the League Phase of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League is here, and this week there are a plethora of high calibre matches taking place across Europe in European Football’s Premier Club Cup Competition. A total of 18 fixtures will be taking place over the course of Tuesday 26th November and Wednesday 27th November 2024.

As of the time of writing, two Premier League clubs currently find themselves in the top eight in the league – Arne Slot’s Liverpool are currently sitting top of the pile with no less than the maximum of 12 points having been earned from their 4 matches to date. As for Aston Villa, Unai Emery’s side have won 3 of their first 4 Champions League matches, which sees them currently sat in 8th place with 9 points.

All three points from the Reds would of course see them maintain their place at top spot in the Champions League table, whilst victory for Villa would see the West Midlands Club would see them go level on points with Liverpool if the Merseyside Club are beaten on Tuesday night.

Moving on to Manchester City, they sit just outside of the top eight in 10th place with a total of 7 points from their first few matches in the League Phase. Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are just behind City on goal difference and are sat in 12th place with 7 points.

A victory for Pep Guardiola’s City side would see them climb into the top eight, and it could see them rise as high as second place should other results go their way. The Cityzens with a win will at least then find themselves in one of the spots that will give them automatic qualification for the Round Of 16. Arteta’s Arsenal are very much in the same situation as their Manchester rivals going into the fifth matchday.

Speaking of matchday five, Manchester City will be taking on fellow former European Champions in the form of Dutch outfit Feyenoord at the Etihad Stadium in what is a 20:00 Kick-Off on Tuesday evening. Arsenal will be kicking off against Portuguese outfit Sporting CP at the same time on Tuesday.

Moving on to Wednesday, 6 time winners Liverpool will be taking on 15 time winners Real Madrid when they welcome Los Blancos to Anfield on 27th November 2024. It will be a 20:00 Kick-Off on Merseyside. Meanwhile, Aston Villa – led by Head Coach Unai Emery – will be taking on Italian heavyweights Juventus at Villa Park on Wednesday.

A win for Liverpool would see them go top of the League Phase, whilst Aston Villa will go level on points with the Reds if they get the win against their Italian counterparts in B6 whilst other results go their way.

Here, we will be looking ahead at the UEFA Champions League games to come this week on the fifth matchday of the 2024/25 League Phase.

Manchester City (England) vs. Feyenoord (Netherlands) – Tuesday 26^th November, Etihad Stadium, 20:00 KO

The first game on Tuesday evening will see the 2023 European Champions come face to face with the 1970 European Champions when Manchester City take on Dutch Eredivisie outfit Feyenoord at the Etihad Stadium in what will be a 20:00 Kick-Off at the Etihad Stadium on 26th November 2024.

Overall, these two clubs have met just twice in the entire history of the highly prestigious Champions League. City have been victorious on both occasions, firstly beating Feyenoord 4 – 0 on the first matchday of the 2017/18 Group Stages away from home before beating the Dutch outfit 1 – 0 at the Etihad.

In their most recent match in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League’s League Phase, the Cityzens were unfortunately beaten 4 – 1 away from home at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, the home of Portuguese outfit Sporting.

Sporting CP (Portugal) vs. Arsenal (England) – Tuesday 26^th November, Estadio Jose Alvalade, 20:00 KO

We now take a look at the other tie on Tuesday night to involve an English side, which sees Arsenal travel to Lisbon in order to take on Portuguese Giants Sporting CP at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in a 20:00 Kick-Off on Tuesday 26th November.

Over the years, these two clubs have never met in the history of this competition to date. The most recent game for Mikel Arteta’s Gunners saw them get beaten narrowly 1 – 0 by Italian Serie A Giants Inter Milan at the San Siro.

Liverpool (England) vs. Real Madrid (Spain) – Wednesday 27^th November, Anfield, 20:00 KO

Now, we take a look at what is arguably the most eye catching fixture of the fifth week of action in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League’s League Phase that will see Arne Slot’s Liverpool take on Spanish Giants Real Madrid at Anfield on Wednesday 27th November in a 20:00 Kick-Off.

Over the years, Liverpool and Real Madrid have come face to face on several occasions – 11 in total. The Reds’ most recent victory against Los Blancos saw them beat their Spanish counterparts in 2009 when they were emphatic 4 – 0 winners at Anfield in the Round of 16. It was Fernando Torres (16’), Steven Gerrard (28’ – Penalty & 47’), and Andrea Dossena (88’) who found the back of the net to score that day. It sealed a 5 – 0 win on aggregate for the Reds.

Liverpool’s most recent match in the League Phase of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League saw them emerge as emphatic 4 – 0 winners against the reigning German Bundesliga Champions Bayer Leverkusen, led by the former Reds midfielder Xabi Alonso.

Aston Villa (England) vs. Juventus (Italy) – Wednesday 27^th November, Villa Park, 20:00 KO

The final fixture that we are taking an in depth look at on the fifth matchday of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League’s League Phase is the eye-catching fixture between Unai Emery’s Aston Villa and Thiago Motta’s Juventus at Villa Park on Wednesday 27th November 2024 in a 20:00 Kick-Off.

Villa will be looking for revenge against The Old Lady, who knocked the Birmingham based club out of the competition when the competition was known as the European Cup in 1983. It was when Aston Villa were the reigning European Champions, but they were knocked out at the Quarter Finals stage.

Overall, they have only met twice, and both games came in 1982/83’s Quarter Finals. Villa were beaten 2 – 1 at Villa Park, before suffering a 3 – 1 loss in the second leg in Turin to complete a 5 – 2 victory for Juventus.

Aston Villa’s most recent League Phase fixture in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League saw them narrowly beaten 1 – 0 away from home by Belgian outfit Club Brugge. The Villans are still very positive, as Unai Emery’s side have still won three of their first four games, having beaten the likes of BSC Young Boys, Bayern Munich, and Bologna.

Other Matches

Below are all of the remaining League Phase matches taking place on the fifth matchday of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League this week.

• Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) vs. AC Milan (Italy) – Tuesday 26^th November, Tehelné Pole, 17:45 KO.
• Sparta Praha (Czech Republic) vs. Atletico Madrid (Spain) – Tuesday 26^th November, Stadion Letna, 17:45 KO.
• Bayern Munich (Germany) vs. Paris Saint-Germain (France) – Tuesday 26^th November, Allianz Arena, 20:00 KO.
• Inter Milan (Italy) vs. RB Leipzig (Germany) – Tuesday 26^th November, San Siro, 20:00 KO.
• FC Barcelona (Spain) vs. Brest (France) – Tuesday 26^th November, Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, 20:00 KO.
• Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) vs. RB Salzburg (Austria) – Tuesday 26^th November, BayArena, 20:00 KO.
• BSC Young Boys (Switzerland) vs. Atalanta (Italy) – Tuesday 26^th November, Stadion Wankdorf, 20:00 KO.
• Red Star Belgrade (Serbia) vs. Stuttgart (Germany) – Wednesday 27^th November, Stadion Rajko Mitić, 17:45 KO.
• Sturm Graz (Austria) vs. Girona (Spain) – Wednesday 27^th November, Wöthersee Stadion, 17:45 KO.
• PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) vs. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) – Wednesday 27^th November, Philips Stadion, 20:00 KO.
• Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) vs. Borussia Dortmund (Germany) – Wednesday 27^th November, Stadion Maksimir, 20:00 KO.
• Celtic (Scotland) vs. Club Brugge (Belgium) – Wednesday 27^th November, Celtic Park, 20:00 KO.
• AS Monaco (France) vs. Benfica (Portugal) – Wednesday 27^th November, Stade Louis II, 20:00 KO.
• Bologna (Italy) vs. Lille (France) – Wednesday 27^th November, Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, 20:00 KO.

Excitement and anticipation are building ahead of the start of the fifth round of action to finally get underway in the League Phase of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League.

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