Inter have a chance to become the first Italian side to ever beat Barcelona twice in a Champions League campaign when they meet at Camp Nou on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Club Brugge are on the brink of their first trip to the knockout stages as they play Atletico Madrid.
Mohamed Salah can make history with one more Champions League goal for Liverpool on their trip to Scotland to take on Rangers, and Bayern Munich are one win away from their own record as they try to win an 11th consecutive group stage match.
Tottenham will look to break out of a scoring slump when they host Eintracht Frankfurt, while Porto and Bayer Leverkusen are battling it out in Group B.
With plenty of important matchups, Stats Perform has parsed through the data to preview the eight fixtures on Wednesday and shine a light on some of the more interesting angles.
Barcelona v Inter
Inter's 1-0 victory against Barcelona at San Siro last week was their first triumph over the Spanish giants since April 2010, with Barca collecting four wins and one draw since.
With another win, Inter can become the first Italian side to ever beat Barcelona twice in the same Champions League campaign, although they have lost all five of their away fixtures at Camp Nou – their most losses at any away venue in the competition.
In fact, Camp Nou has not been a happy hunting ground for Italian sides in general, with a 3-0 victory for Juventus in 2020 marking the country's only win at the venue in the last 17 tries (L13 D3).
It is not just Barcelona who have given Inter trouble on away days, with their last away win in the Champions League against a Spanish opponent coming back in 2004 against Valencia.
Working in Inter's favour is road warrior Lautaro Martinez, who has scored six of his seven Champions League goals away from home.
Tottenham v Eintracht Frankfurt
After banking four consecutive wins against Borussia Dortmund between 2017 and 2019, Tottenham are now winless in their past five Champions League fixtures against German sides (D1 L4).
On the other side, Eintracht have enjoyed success when travelling to England in European competition, winning both of their previous two attempts – against Arsenal in 2019, and West Ham in April this year – in the Europa League.
However, this is a clear step up from the Europa League, and after winning their first ever Champions League away game last month (1-0 at Marseille), Frankfurt will be looking to become the only German team to ever win their first two away fixtures in the competition.
The 0-0 draw between these two sides in Frankfurt a week ago was the second consecutive Champions League game where Tottenham have failed to score a goal – also losing 2-0 to Sporting. The last time they went three games in the competition without scoring was back in 2011.
Striker Harry Kane will be key, as he boasts the best minutes-per-goal figure – 20 goals in 27 appearances for a goal every 118 minutes – of any English player with at least 10 goals in the Champions League.
Atletico Madrid v Club Brugge
Not many, if any, would have tipped Club Brugge to top Group B ahead of Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and Porto, but they have defeated all three to lead with a perfect nine points and zero goals conceded.
One more win for Brugge would see them progress past the group stage for the first time, in their 10th Champions League campaign. By defeating Atletico, they would become the first Belgian side since Anderlecht in 2000 to win four games in a row in the competition.
Brugge are also one goal away from matching their highest goal tally from a single Champions League campaign, with eight goals in 2020-21.
Surprisingly, Atletico have struggled at home in the Champions League, snapping a streak of eight games without a win (D5 L3) by defeating Porto this season.
Brugge's Ferran Jutgla has registered a goal and an assist in each of his past two Champions League games, and if he can manage to do it again, he will join Robert Lewandowski and Leroy Sane as the only players since 2003-04 to have a goal and an assist in three straight games in the competition.
Bayer Leverkusen v Porto
With Brugge seemingly cruising, Porto, Leverkusen and Atletico are likely fighting it out for one automatic qualification spot, and Leverkusen will feel good about their chances as Porto are winless in their last seven away games against German teams (D2 L5).
After defeating Atletico at home on the second matchday, Leverkusen will be looking to win consecutive Champions League home fixtures in the same campaign for the first time since 2014.
Patrick Schick is Leverkusen's focal point going forward, attempting more than twice as many shots (12) as any of his team-mates this Champions League season, but he is yet to score, having missed a penalty against Porto in last week's 2-0 loss.
Porto's Mehdi Taremi assisted both goals in the reverse fixture, marking the first time he has been involved in multiple goals in a Champions League game, while the sending-off of Jeremie Frimpong gave Leverkusen their 11th red card in their history in the competition, trailing only Bayern Munich (21) amongst German sides.
Other fixtures:
Napoli v Ajax
5 – Napoli beat Ajax 6-1 in the reverse fixture at Johan Cruyff Arena, with the five-goal margin marking the heaviest defeat Ajax have ever suffered in European competition.
10 – With one more win, Napoli would become the fourth Italian club to ever mount a 10-game unbeaten streak in the Champions League, with six wins and three draws from their past nine fixtures.
Rangers v Liverpool
5 – Rangers have failed to score in their past five European games against English competition, including a 2-0 loss against Liverpool last week.
35 – Mohamed Salah has scored 35 Champions League goals for Liverpool – only Didier Droga (36 for Chelsea) and Sergio Aguero (36 for Manchester City) have scored more for a single Premier League club in the competition.
Sporting v Marseille
9 – Marseille have lost their past nine away fixtures in the Champions League, and with one more loss they would become the sixth team to ever post 10 consecutive away defeats in the competition, and the first from France.
18 – It has been 18 years since Sporting lost a home fixture against a French side in European competition, with that loss coming against Sochaux in the 2004 UEFA Cup.
Viktoria Plzen v Bayern Munich
31 – Bayern Munich are undefeated in their past 31 Champions League group stage matches (28W 3D) – which is an all-time high – and with one more win they will set the new record for consecutive group stage wins with 11.
32 – Viktoria Plzen have faced 32 shots on target in their first three games of this Champions League campaign – more than any other side. In the reverse fixture, Bayern had 13 shots on target.
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.”
Unai Emery eases concerns over Leon Bailey's fitness after Arsenal victory
Aston Villa's head coach, Unai Emery, has moved to calm concerns over the fitness of Jamaican sensation Leon Bailey after the winger was substituted at halftime during their pivotal 1-0 victory over Arsenal at Villa Park.
Bailey, who provided the crucial assist for John McGinn's seventh-minute goal, raised eyebrows when he did not emerge from the tunnel for the second half.
Emery addressed the situation in the post-match press conference, providing insight into Bailey's condition. Despite the initial worry among Villa fans, Emery hinted that fatigue rather than injury might be the reason for the substitution.
"He was tired, completely tired! Hopefully, he's not injured, but I don't know exactly," Emery reassured, offering a glimmer of hope regarding Bailey's well-being.
Bailey's impactful performance against Arsenal came on the heels of his winning goal against Manchester City last Wednesday night. His ability to make a difference in crucial matches has quickly endeared him to Villa supporters.
However, the Jamaican international has battled injury concerns since joining Aston Villa from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2021. Despite these challenges, Bailey has remarkably missed just one league match throughout the season, sitting out the 6-1 win over Brighton and Hove Albion back in September.
The timing of Bailey's potential setback raises questions about his availability for the upcoming Europa Conference League clash against Zrinjski on Thursday night.
The hope is that Bailey's early substitution against Arsenal was a precautionary measure to manage fatigue rather than a recurrence of his injury struggles. As Villa pursues success on multiple fronts, including European competition, the fitness of key players like Leon Bailey remains a critical factor in their aspirations for a successful campaign.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic returns to AC Milan as senior adviser to ownership group
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has taken a new role with RedBird Capital Partners as a senior adviser to AC Milan’s ownership and management.
The 42-year-old retired from football following Milan’s final game of the last Serie A season, but has returned to the club in his first job since his playing days as an adviser to the management and owners.
Ibrahimovic will serve as a senior adviser to the ownership, which is led by RedBird and longstanding partners the New York Yankees.
The former Sweden striker will play a key role with the club, dealing with their sporting and business operations to help the club build on the success since Redbird took ownership the club.
Ibrahimovic will work with the playing side, which includes development and high-performance training, while having a say in Milan’s commercial business and supporting special projects, including the building and development of the club’s new stadium.
The American investment firm, which also has stakes in Liverpool’s owner Fenway Sports Group, took over the Italian club in 2021 and helped them win the Serie A title in 2021-22 while taking the club back into the Champions League.
Ibrahimovic will work alongside RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale as well as first-team coach Stefano Pioli and chief executive Giorgio Furlani.
Ibrahimovic told the club website: “I am extremely grateful to be joining both RedBird and AC Milan in these important and influential roles.
“RedBird has partnered with some of the greatest athletes, teams and business figures in the world to create businesses with meaning and impact. I look forward to contributing to their investing activities across their sports, media and entertainment properties.
“My love for the Rossoneri will never die, and the opportunity to be a part of its future in a meaningful way is something I could only have dreamed of.
“I have greatly admired the commitment, passion and hard work RedBird and Senior Management have demonstrated since acquiring the club. This is not a decision that I take lightly – it is one which is very important and personal to me and my family.
“I’ve thought long and hard about the first steps in my post-playing career, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to start that journey as a member of RedBird and AC Milan. For me and my family, this is truly a homecoming with the cherished club where I ended my playing career and am now starting my next chapter.”
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