Champions League Fixtures 2014: Schedule, Live Stream, Predictions for Week 6
Week 6 of the Champions League sees the final group-stage matches play out, with places in the last 16 still very much up for grabs.
Both Liverpool and Manchester City will be thanking their lucky stars that’s the case, as they’re still in with a chance of progression despite a pair of lacklustre campaigns.
Here’s a look at the full set of fixtures with predictions for Week 6 and enhanced previews of the week’s two big ties.
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| Date | Fixture | Live Stream | Prediction | |
| Tuesday, December 9 | Juventus vs. Atletico Madrid | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 2-2 | |
| Tuesday, December 9 | Olympiakos vs. Malmo | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 3-1 | |
| Tuesday, December 9 | Liverpool vs. FC Basel | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 2-1 | |
| Tuesday, December 9 | Real Madrid vs. Ludogorets | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 4-0 | |
| Tuesday, December 9 | Benfica vs. Bayer Leverkusen | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 1-2 | |
| Tuesday, December 9 | Monaco vs. Zenit St. Petersburg | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 3-2 | |
| Tuesday, December 9 | Borussia Dortmund vs. Anderlecht | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 2-0 | |
| Tuesday, December 9 | Galatasaray vs. Arsenal | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 1-0 | |
| Wednesday, December 10 | Bayern Munich vs. CSKA Moscow | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 3-0 | |
| Wednesday, December 10 | Roma vs. Manchester City | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 1-3 | |
| Wednesday, December 10 | Ajax vs. Apoel | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 2-0 | |
| Wednesday, December 10 | Barcelona vs. Paris Saint-Germain | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 2-2 | |
| Wednesday, December 10 | Chelsea vs. Sporting Lisbon | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 3-1 | |
| Wednesday, December 10 | NK Maribor vs. Schalke | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 1-1 | |
| Wednesday, December 10 | Athletic Bilbao vs. BATE | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 2-1 | |
| Wednesday, December 10 | Porto vs. Shakhtar Donetsk | Sky Go (U.K. only) | 1-1 |
Liverpool vs. FC Basel, Tuesday
This season, Liverpool have been crying out for a famous European night at Anfield, a Steven Gerrard-vs.-Olympiakos kind of occasion to get their season going.
It hasn’t happened just yet, but with Basel visiting Merseyside and the victor going through to the next round, the stage is perfectly set.
The Reds go into Tuesday’s match off the back of a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Sunderland in which they simply didn’t create enough chances to earn all three points, as Squawka Football’s statistics show:
The front two of Rickie Lambert and Philippe Coutinho barely exchanged a pass all game, which is something manager Brendan Rodgers desperately needs to assess before Basel's visit.
While scoring goals will be the main priority for Liverpool in a game that they have to win, Basel are no pushovers. They were by far the better side in the reverse fixture, with Marco Streller’s goal giving them a deserved 1-0 victory, and Rodgers appears determined not to let that happen again.
The 41-year-old boss recently said that qualifying is the main goal for Tuesday, as the occasion is perfect for his players to prove their worth, per John Richardson of the Daily Express: "We could not have wanted any more than to go to Anfield on Tuesday needing to win the game to qualify. It's perfect. We would have wanted to have done better, but we still have the chance. The most important thing is to qualify. If we can do that we will be pleased."
Gerrard will likely be recalled from the start to fire up his troops in an otherwise unchanged Liverpool side that desperately need a lift.
Should the result not go their way on Tuesday, the whispers of “crisis” will start to grow a lot louder.
Luis Suarez’s ghost is lingering over Anfield more than ever, and Rodgers doesn't have the team playing the way they did last season. It’s safe to say that European exile would just top it all off.
It’ll likely be a 90 nervy minutes, but Liverpool should have enough about them to pull through.
Prediction: Liverpool 2-1 FC Basel
Roma vs. Manchester City, Wednesday
Manchester City have had a dismal Champions League campaign so far, but somehow, here we are on the final day of the group stage with their heads still just about above water.
The 3-2 victory at home to runaway group leaders Bayern Munich saw Manuel Pellegrini’s men move up to five points, level with Roma and CSKA Moscow heading into Week 6. So as long as Bayern do City a favour and dispose of the Russian outfit, a win in Rome will see City through to the last 16, and even a draw could be enough.
That’s not easily done, though, as the Italians come into the match in impressive home form.
As SoccerWay’s statistics show, Roma have lost just one match at the Stadio Olimpico all season, although that happened to be a 7-1 drubbing at the hands of Bayern in Week 4.
Further adding to the tie's difficulty is the absence of striker Sergio Aguero, whose knee injury sustained against Everton on Saturday rules him out according to Pellegrini, via PhysioRoom.com:
Stevan Jovetic is set to come in as a like-for-like replacement, although the Chilean manager could be tempted to play two up front as he hunts for goals, with winning said to be his only ambition, per Paul Wilson of The Observer:
"We will not change, we will always be an offensive team. We always try to go for the game from the beginning and we will do the same against Roma. The thing is that Roma are in a similar position. They know if they draw 1-1 and Bayern beat CSKA then the result favours us. We would go through in that situation, so Roma really need a win too. If it is 0-0 [and Bayern win] that puts Roma in a better position than us. So it is complicated. It will be very difficult for either of us to play with mathematics, but we don’t need to. Both of us just need to win.
"
The loss of Aguero will be a blow, but in what’s set to be an attacking, end-to-end encounter, City should have enough about them to pick off Roma on the counter-attack.
Prediction: Roma 1-3 Manchester City
