Chelsea will host Milan on Wednesday in what could well be a must-win fixture for the Blues, who sit last in Champions League Group E.
England has not been a happy hunting ground for Milan, but the group leaders and reigning Serie A champions will be hoping for a change of fortune when they roll into Stamford Bridge.
Meanwhile, Mykhaylo Mudryk will get a chance to show why he is considered one of the top young talents in Europe as Shakhtar Donetsk head to the Santiago Bernabeu to take on Real Madrid.
Paris Saint-Germain will look to change their poor historical record against Benfica, with Kylian Mbappe on the brink of becoming the club's record European goalscorer.
Stats Perform has dug up the most interesting facts and angles for each contest on Wednesday.
Chelsea v Milan
This is the first time these two teams will meet in the Champions League since they were in the same group in 1999, with both of those matches ending in draws. They have not met in a competitive game since, with all four of their 21st-century contests coming in the International Champions Cup (Chelsea won three of those with Milan recording one victory).
Chelsea have only lost twice at home to Italian teams in continental competition, collecting eight wins and three draws. They lost to Lazio 1-2 in 2000, and to Inter 1-0 in 2010.
Milan's record in England also gives no reason for optimism, with only one win from 20 tries in European play (D7 L12).
Olivier Giroud was subbed off in Milan's dramatic 3-1 win over Empoli on Saturday. The France striker could become the 10th player to score for and against Chelsea in the Champions League, and first since Loic Rémy for Lille in December 2019, should he net in this meeting.
Real Madrid v Shakhtar Donetsk
This is the third consecutive season these sides have met in the group stages. It is the fifth time teams have ever been paired together in three consecutive seasons, and Shakhtar was involved in the most recent occasion as well, against Manchester City from 2017-18 through to 2019-20.
Over the past two seasons, they have split the wins evenly, with Shakhtar winning both games in the 2020-21 campaign, before Madrid triumphed in both fixtures last season.
After a win and a draw in the first two matchdays, Shakhtar boast the highest shot conversion rate in the competition, scoring with five of their 10 shots, including two goals from 21-year-old rising star Mudryk.
On the other side, Vinicius Junior leads the Champions League with 33 chances created and seven assists from open play since the start of last season, and he shares the mantle for most goal involvements at 18 with Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski.
Benfica v Paris Saint-Germain
Benfica are looking to extend their surprisingly strong record against Paris Saint-Germain, having won three of their six previous meetings (1D 2L) in European competitions, including the past three in a row. Their last fixture came in the 2013-14 season, with Benfica winning 2-1 at home.
In fact, Benfica have enjoyed plenty of success while hosting French sides, with five consecutive home wins – twice against Lyon, as well as beating Lille, Monaco and PSG.
However, PSG are a different beast now then they were back in 2014, and have only lost one of their past 11 matches in the group stage (8W 2D).
At only 23, Mbappe can become the club's all-time leading scorer in European competitions with one more goal. He is currently tied at 30 with Edinson Cavani.
RB Leipzig v Celtic
These sides both won their home fixtures when they were matched up in the 2018-19 group stage, and they will be desperate for a result as they enter Wednesday's game with only one point between them in Group F.
Celtic will be looking to make history as they have never won a European game away in Germany (10L 3D), failing to score on nine of those 13 occasions.
But it might be a case of a stoppable force meeting a movable object, as Leipzig have not kept a clean sheet in their last seven home games in the competition. They have only shut out their opponents twice from 15 Champions League home games.
Jota will be the key for Celtic's chances, with his six chances created trailing only Napoli's Piotr Zielinski (eight), while only Madrid star Vinicius is credited with more take-on dribbles (11) than Jota's nine.
Other fixtures:
Manchester City v FC Copenhagen
23 – Manchester City are two games away from tying Manchester United's record of 23 consecutive Champions League home fixtures without a loss. They are unbeaten at home in the competition since 2018.
62 – City's Erling Haaland averages a goal every 62 minutes in the competition, netting 26 goals in 21 appearances. He is well clear of second-placed Mario Gomez, who scored his 26 goals on an average of every 102 minutes.
Sevilla v Borussia Dortmund
1 – Borussia Dortmund have only won one of their past 11 trips to Spain in the Champions League (L7 D3), but that win came from their most recent opportunity, against Sevilla in February 2021.
3 – Sevilla have failed to score in each of their past three Champions League games. They have never gone four consecutive games in European competition without scoring.
Juventus v Maccabi Haifa
29 – It has been 29 years since Maccabi Haifa defeated an Italian team in European competition (3L 1D), with their only victory coming in 1993 against Parma.
8 – The Israeli side have lost all eight of their Champions League fixtures since 2002, by a combined aggregate score of 13-1.
Salzburg v Dinamo Zagreb
6 – Salzburg can become the first Austrian team to ever go six games unbeaten in the Champions League if they can avoid defeat against Dinamo Zagreb, with three wins and two draws from their past five.
23 – The last time Zagreb kept a clean sheet away from home in this competition was 23 years ago, drawing 0-0 against United at Old Trafford in 1999. Since then, they have conceded 52 goals in 18 away games (2.9 per game).
Increased capacity of 57,000 expected at Anfield for Liverpool v Man Utd clash
Liverpool expect to have 57,000 fans in attendance for the visit of Manchester United providing the new Anfield Road Stand receives a safety certificate this week.
A test event on Monday evening is set to be attended by 7,500-plus supporters, who will watch a LFC Foundation mini-game and listen to a question-and-answer session from manager Jurgen Klopp.
If everything runs smoothly then on Sunday 7,000 seats in the upper tier will be filled for the visit of their arch-rivals, leaving only facilities for 2,000 hospitality guests and some minor work on the lower tier to be completed next month to bring the capacity up to 61,000.
Work on the £80million upgrade was due to be completed for the start of the season but an initial delay was complicated by contractors Buckingham Group going into administration, leading to a phased reopening which has seen only the lower tier in operation.
“It’s been really challenging,” said Paul Cuttill, vice-president of Stadium Operations.
“Our priority was to get fans back into the stadium as soon as possible safely. Billy (Hogan, the chief executive) said back in October it would likely be 2024 before we would open so to get ahead of that for the Man United game is a bit of an early Christmas present.
“What it has cost us is the amount of time it has taken.
“Being able to bring in people earlier has been a massive benefit to us, but we won’t know the true nature of the costs until we have got a proper programme in place towards the end of the season.”
Chiellini: Tough to see Juventus reclaiming Scudetto with Inter firm favourites
Giorgio Chiellini is delighted to see Juventus challenging at the Serie A summit again, but he struggles to see the Bianconeri winning the Scudetto this term.
Chiellini won nine Serie A titles during his distinguished spell with Juve, which came to an end at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season as he left for Los Angeles FC in MLS.
In their first season after the defender's departure, Juve finished seventh in Serie A, hampered by a 10-point deduction that was handed down following an investigation into the club's finances.
However, Massimiliano Allegri has overseen a revival of their fortunes this campaign, with the Bianconeri sitting two points behind Inter at the top of Serie A after 15 games.
A 1-0 win over Napoli briefly took Juventus top on Friday, only for Inter to recapture the lead by thrashing Udinese 4-0.
While Chiellini has been impressed by his former club's resurgence, he believes toppling the Nerazzurri is a tough ask.
"It will be hard," he told Stats Perform.
"If they can be as consistent as Inter, if they arrive in that situation in March, I think it could be a possibility, but it's hard following a team for many months in a row.
"We'll see, we'll see. I'm very happy obviously that they are having a good season and I hope they can finish first and win the title.
"I think the key is the consistency of Inter, who are by far the favourites for the league."
Juventus' off-pitch problems have refused to go away this term, though, with midfielder Paul Pogba suspended by the club after testing positive for heightened levels of testosterone following a win over Udinese in August.
Pogba's B sample also returned a positive test result, and he could face a ban of between two and four years if found guilty of doping.
Chiellini was a team-mate of Pogba's during the Frenchman's first spell in Turin between 2012 and 2016, and he says the midfielder's current situation is sad to see.
Asked how he responded to Pogba's positive test, Chiellini said: "I just text him because I knew him as a kid, from when he was 19. I love him as a good guy and I'm very sad for the situation.
"I don't know other things, just what is public, because I cannot ask him; 'What happened? Did you do this?' It's something very bad.
"I just ask people to be close to him and give support to him. I'm very sad and I don't know how to finish this type of situation. Everyone who has known Paul in his life will be very sad about what's happening."
Chiellini keen to continue football career in the boardroom, not the dugout
Giorgio Chiellini is keen to stay in football when he calls time on his glittering career, though he imagines himself becoming a director rather than a coach.
Chiellini won nine Serie A titles during a distinguished spell with Juventus and captained Italy to Euro 2020 glory before moving to the United States last year, helping Los Angeles FC win the MLS Cup.
LAFC failed to go back-to-back as they were beaten 2-1 by the Columbus Crew in Saturday's MLS Cup final, and Chiellini has yet to make a decision on whether he will play on in 2024, with his contract due to expire this month.
As for his long-term future, the 39-year-old has his eyes set on a place in the boardroom, rather than the dugout.
Speaking exclusively to Stats Perform, Chiellini said: "I did a degree in economics and the NBA, and I had always that type of management in my mind.
"Not as a coach, not in scouting, but yeah, to try to remain linked in the world of football on that side.
"It's not easy. It's not a journey that you start and then you can decide, you have to study and learn many things because at the end, you come into this world at 40 and not at 25.
"Then you have some other skills that probably other football players don't have, but you miss other parts.
"What I hope for my future is to have the time to learn and the patience to stay close to some key figures and key people that are open to teaching me what I'm missing, and to develop this type of situation. I cannot just focus on watching games."
Expanding further on what his ideal role would entail, the defender added: "More of a director, not just scouting, but something more management based.
"Related to football, but not as one of the people who watch the players in order to pick them.
"Something where I maybe help the club to figure out about what we could spend for players, how we could afford them, how we could improve the situation, all this stuff."
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