The 2024/25 Champions League group stage has reached crunched time.
All 36 teams in the tournament play in Wednesday night's final round of group games and there is still plenty on the line.
Two teams - Liverpool and Barcelona - are definitely straight through to the last 16, nine clubs are definitely eliminated, while giants Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City still need to rubber stamp their place in the next stage.
There are storylines everywhere so expect a tense, fraught and dramatic night of action.
- JUVENTUS TO BEAT BENFICA
- REAL MADRID TO BEAT BREST & UNDER 3.5 GOALS
- PSV OR DRAW DOUBLE CHANCE VS LIVERPOOL
- GIRONA VS ARSENAL - UNDER 2.5 GOALS
- BAYER LEVERKUSEN/BOTH TEAMS NOT TO SCORE VS SPARTA PRAGUE
- CRVENA ZVEZDA TO BEAT YOUNG BOYS
Juventus vs Benfica
Juventus, the team proving hard to beat, are 17th in the group-stage standings, and they can take care of 21st-placed Benfica in Turin.
Juve have qualified but could well need to win to be seeded into next month's play-off rounds.
Benfica have yet to qualify though a point should be enough to ensure that happens.
The Portuguese giants could have saved themselves this final night angst a week ago when they led Barcelona 4-2 at home with just 12 minutes left on the clock, only to fall apart and lose 5-4.
On top of that, left-back Alvaro Carreras is suspended for the trip to Juventus, who have lost just three matches since April.
Juve draw far too many games for their own good - they have drawn 16 of 29 in all competitions since the beginning of September - but are nigh-on unbeatable under Thiago Motta.
JUVENTUS TO WIN
Brest vs Real Madrid
European debutants Brest are having a Champions League campaign to remember and having qualified for the next stage, their job is done.
They could, by beating Real Madrid, avoid the play-off round by going straight into the last 16, though they would need a lot of results to go their way.
And, of course, first things first they would have to beat the 15-time defending champions and that looks a tall order.
Eric Roy's men are battling a number of injuries to key players, are playing at Guingamp rather than their own ground because of suitability and surely have one eye on Saturday's huge Ligue 1 showdown with Paris Saint-Germain.
Carlo Ancelotti's reigning champions have qualified but would like to nail down a home second leg in the play-off round and can do that with a win.
They are scoring goals for fun domestically but with Vinicius Junior an absentee and an intense workload, expect them to just get the job done by winning a game featuring under 3.5 goals.
REAL MADRID WIN & UNDER 3.5 GOALS
PSV vs Liverpool
Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been critical of the workload placed on his Anfield superstars so expect him to give many of his aces a breather back in his homeland.
The Reds, top of the Premier League as well as top of the Champions League, are through to the last 16 in either first or second place so have no reason to go strong in Eindhoven against PSV.
Far more important to Slot will be Saturday's trip to in-form Bournemouth in the league, a potential banana skin in their quest to claim the English title.
All this has to offer Eredivisie leaders PSV a great chance to claim a win.
Peter Bosz's men are strong at home and can easily win but since a draw would do no harm to either camp, have that on your side as well.
PSV OR DRAW DOUBLE CHANCE
Girona vs Arsenal
Like Liverpool, Arsenal ought to be going through the motions on Wednesday with far bigger fish to fry at the weekend.
They are in Catalonia to face Girona but Mikel Arteta's focus will surely be on their game at home to Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday.
Fortunately for the Gunners, they are third in the Champions League standings and heading straight into the last 16, so Arteta will make wholesale changes in Girona.
Girona are eliminated after winning just one of their seven matches on their European debut. Their job now, having been bitten by the Euro bug, is to qualify for European competition again via their league position so this match looks an irrelevance.
They have gone off the boil of late and have failed to score a single goal in their last four Champions League games - all losses - so expect a low scorer at the Montilivi.
UNDER 2.5 GOALS
Bayer Leverkusen vs Sparta Prague
When Bayer Leverkusen need a result, they usually get it, so expect Xabi Alonso's German juggernaut to drive a route through Sparta Prague's defences with little resistance.
Leverkusen are one of six teams on 13 points acutely aware that goal difference may well determine which of that sextet makes the top eight.
To that end, the Bundesliga champions are unlikely to show any mercy to a Sparta side who took four points from their first two games, were going well, and haven't managed another point since.
They are out and know their priority now is trying to eat into rival Slavia's healthy advantage in the Czech title race. Take Bayer to win this to nil.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN/BOTH TEAMS NOT TO SCORE
Young Boys vs Crvena Zvezda
Young Boys welcome Crvena Zvezda to Bern for one of two genuine dead rubbers on the Wednesday card.
Dead rubbers is perhaps overdoing it - there are huge financial rewards for winning a Champions League game and each finishing position - but Red Star can have a go at this one.
Miles clear of the pack in Serbia, domestically they have no issues, and they have only failed to score in one game - at Inter Milan - since April. They have actually scored more goals in this tournament than either Inter or AC Milan.
Young Boys, in contrast, are the competition's lowest scorers, have lost all seven, have not scored a single goal in three games since returning from a winter break and this fixture is way down their list of priorities.
CRVENA ZVEZDA TO WIN
