Champions League Fixtures 2014: Schedule, Live Stream, Predictions for Week 4

The group stage of the UEFA Champions League reaches its fourth game this week. This is the period when the established order in each group generally gets set in stone.

Ensuring a finish in either first or second will be a daunting challenge for some, none more so than Liverpool. Struggling in the Premier League, the Anfield club will get no reprieve at the Santiago Bernabeu, home of current Champions League holders Real Madrid.

Elsewhere, Liverpool's domestic rival Manchester City is in must-win mode at home against CSKA Moscow. Manager Manuel Pellegrini's team has been a major letdown so far in this season's tournament.

These games are the marquee fixtures to look at this week. Here's the full schedule: 

Fixture	Group	Kickoff (GMT)	Prediction
Tuesday, November 4
Juventus vs. Olympiakos	A	7.45 p.m.	2-1 Juventus
Malmo vs. Atletico Madrid	A	7.45 p.m.	1-3 Atletico
FC Basel vs. Ludogorets	B	7.45 p.m.	2-1 Basel
Real Madrid vs. Liverpool	B	7.45 p.m.	3-0 Madrid
Zenit St. Petersburg vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen	C	5 p.m.	2-2
Benfica vs. Monaco	C	7.45 p.m.	1-0 Benfica
Arsenal vs. Anderlecht	D	7.45 p.m.	3-0 Arsenal
Borussia Dortmund vs. Galatasaray	D	7.45 p.m.	2-0 Dortmund
Wednesday, November 5
Bayern Munich vs. AS Roma	E	7.45 p.m.	3-1 Munich
Manchester City vs. CSKA Moscow	E	7.45 p.m.	4-1 City
Ajax vs. Barcelona	F	7.45 p.m.	1-2 Barcelona
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Apoel Nicosia	F	7.45 p.m.	2-0 PSG
NK Maribor vs. Chelsea	G	7.45 p.m.	0-1 Chelsea
Sporting Lisbon vs. Schalke 04	G	7.45 p.m.	1-1
Athletic Bilbao vs. FC Porto	H	7.45 p.m.	2-1 Bilbao
Shakhtar Donetsk vs. BATE Borisov	H	7.45 p.m.	3-0 Shakhtar

Real Madrid vs. Liverpool will be streamed via ITV Player. All other games are streamed via Sky Go.

Manchester City vs. CSKA Moscow

The Citizens need to get back on track in a season suddenly in genuine danger of unravelling. A pair of Premier League defeats and an early exit from the Capital One Cup have made an ultra-talented squad appear vulnerable.

Problems at both ends of the pitch are undermining Pellegrini's team per BBC Sport writer Robbie Savage:

"

City's struggles this season already remind me of what happened under Mancini after he won the Premier League in 2012.

They failed to improve their squad, flopped in Europe and ended up finishing a distant second in the title race.

This time around, their early-season form has not been disastrous, just not very good.
Their defensive problems are obvious and, on the face of it, most worrying.

But it is a mystery why they have failed to find the electric attacking form from last campaign that saw them become the quickest team to score 100 goals in a season in the Premier League era.

"

Both sets of issues were on full display when City wasted a two-goal lead in Moscow in their last Champions League game. In fairness to Pellegrini, he won't abandon his attacking philosophy just to steady the ship.

Ian Walton/Getty Images

He will continue encouraging his team to press forward, according to BBC Sport: "Around the end of October (2013) we had the same questions, and I answered the same way. It is the way we must play. We will continue doing the same way."

Pellegrini certainly has the resources to suit a forward-thinking approach. Whatever their problems, City can usually be relied upon to create chances.

Greater consistency from strikers Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic is needed to convert those chances. Much will also depend on the quality of the supply to the forward line.

Simply put, when midfield maestro David Silva plays well, City usually win, something detailed by Manchester Evening News reporter Paul Handler. But the ex-Valencia star recently succumbed to a knee ligament injury that will leave him sidelined for three weeks, per Jamie Jackson of The Guardian.

Epsilon/Getty Images

Pellegrini needs to keep his pocket-edition playmaker fit and firing to salvage this Champions League campaign and possibly the season. Without Silva, the creative burden against CSKA could fall to temperamental ex-Arsenal ace Samir Nasri.

The 27-year-old won't find space easy to come by against a seasoned and well-drilled Moscow outfit. Coach Leonid Slutsky knows how to organise his team to close off passing lanes and play with pace on the break.

A key figure in the latter part of that strategy will be wing wizard Ahmed Musa. The tricky speedster tormented City from the flanks in the first meeting. He could find particular joy if he targets accident-prone left-back Gael Clichy.

City need this win to act as a springboard for the rest of their season. They certainly had little trouble fashioning chances in the first meeting. Greater efficiency in attack could put the game out of CSKA's reach early.

In a climate of desperation, players such as Aguero and Nasri must deliver. If they do, Pellegrini's team will be emphatic winners.

Real Madrid vs. Liverpool

Real Madrid are hardly the opponent any team in crisis wants to face. But that's the situation Liverpool's players are in.

The recent 1-0 Premier League defeat to Newcastle United was simply the latest reminder of the problems facing the post-Luis Suarez Liverpool. Specifically, the Reds are finding goals hard to come by.

The man assigned a lot of the blame is summer recruit Mario Balotelli. The always controversial forward has netted just twice since signing for the club.

Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Former Liverpool centre-back and current BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson is the latest to criticise Balotelli's lacklustre showings, per Liverpool Echo reporter Joe Rimmer:

"

There’s an awful lot of fuss about Mario Balotelli but he just can’t do it on a regular basis, he doesn’t work hard enough.

He’s average at best and while I wouldn’t go as far as to suggest that Brendan Rodgers is in danger of losing his job over this guy, sometimes you can’t see the woods for the trees.

He doesn’t look interested and in football terms he’s getting away with murder.

The least you expect from your strikers when things aren’t going well for them is to put a shift in but it’s like Balotelli is treated as a special case.

"

Balotelli is certainly struggling, but he also isn't being helped by a lack of continuity and a paucity of creativity behind him. Manager Brendan Rodgers signed too many new players this summer and has taken to tinkering with his team in every game.

He certainly hasn't got the creative balance in midfield right. Rodgers has Philippe Coutinho and new boys Adam Lallana and Lazar Markovic to choose from as attacking midfielders. He needs two of those three to form a potent combination behind Balotelli and Raheem Sterling.

Of course, Rodgers may be more concerned about stifling than creating in Madrid. In that case, he'll need his players to do a better job of swarming around deep-lying pass masters Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.

Liverpool never got near the pair at Anfield when Madrid ran out comfortable 3-0 winners. That has to change in the return fixture.

But negation can't be the only characteristic of Rodgers' team in the Spanish capital. He must be bold enough to let his players seize the early initiative and try and catch Los Blancos cold.

In Sterling, Balotelli and Coutinho, he has three attackers with enough pace to trouble Real's back four.

However, that group doesn't compare to Los Merengues' attacking options. Boss Carlo Ancelotti can unleash Cristiano Ronaldo, Isco, James Rodriguez and Karim Benzema.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

While the insanely prolific Ronaldo rightly garners most of the plaudits, Benzema's contributions can't be easily overlooked. Liverpool know all about those contributions, having conceded twice to Benzema at Anfield.

The towering French international isn't all about the goals though. He's a mercurial No. 9 with a penchant for providing for others, as statistics from Opta Jose prove:

Benzema should again prove a handful for below-par central defenders Dejan Lovren and Martin Skrtel.

The combination play by Madrid's front four destroyed Liverpool in their first meeting. It's reasonable to expect a repeat of that carnage.

Anything less than wins for Liverpool and City could well see both condemned to the ignominy of an early exit. That would certainly draw headlines and act as an indictment of the quality of the Premier League.

Elsewhere, there will be a lot of focus on Barcelona after the Catalan club was shocked at home by Celta Vigo in La Liga. Now Luis Enrique's squad must recover to win in Amsterdam, where Ajax scored a famous 2-1 win last season.

These games will highlight the fourth week of Champions League action.