5 Tips for Tuesday’s Champions League Action - 23/11/21

On Matchday five of the Champions League in Group F, an under-pressure Manchester United travel to Villarreal needing to avoid defeat to keep their fate in their own hands.

Michael Carrick is currently United’s Interim Manager following the mutual departure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer from Old Trafford and will be turning towards his group of high-quality individuals to guide them through the rough patch that the Red Devils are in.

United are currently on seven points, level with Villarreal and just two points ahead of Atalanta and hold the head to head advantage over their rivals as it stands.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been nothing short of sensational for United in the Champions League this season, scoring five goals in four matches, averaging a goal every 66 minutes, including a late winner against Villarreal in the last meeting between these two clubs. The 36-year-old former Juventus striker has scored 139 goals in 180 Champions League matches.

Barcelona face Benfica on matchday five in the Champions League in what is a must-win game for Xavi’s men at the Nou Camp.

In the previous meeting between these two sides, Benfica thrashed Barca 3-0 at the Estadio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica whilst the visitors were in a turbulent period under Ronald Koeman, however, with a new manager bounce and the quality of players that the Nou Camp club have, we thoroughly expect Barca to emerge victorious here, as they have in both of their last two Champions League matches against Dynamo Kyiv where they beat the Ukrainian outfit 1-0 both home and away.

At the weekend, Xavi oversaw his side win their first game under his stewardship in a Barcelona derby win over Espanyol 1-0 via a Memphis Depay penalty.

Chelsea host Juventus at Stamford Bridge in a battle of second versus first on matchday five in Group H.

Juve won the last meeting 1-0 at the Juventus Stadium via a second-half Federico Chiesa goal, meaning that Chelsea will have to win at Stamford Bridge if they are to finish top of the group as Massimiliano Allegri’s men have 12 points to their nine.

At present, Thomas Tuchel’s men are in good form as they are top of the Premier League and having been Champions of Europe last season, they will fancy their chances as they have won four of their last five Premier League matches, compared to Juve’s two, with home advantage, the Blues will be expected to defeat the Old Lady here.

Young Boys take on Atalanta on matchday five of Group F, with the Swiss side desperately needing a win if they are to stand a chance of progressing, whilst Gian Piero Gasperini’s men need a victory to put themselves in a favourable position on matchday six.

David Wagner’s men have just three points to their name in the Champions League which came in their 2-1 won over Manchester United on matchday one, whilst Atalanta come here on the back of their 2-2 draw with the Old Trafford club where Ronaldo’s late brace rescued them a draw after Josip Ilcic and Duvan Zapata goals had given the Serie A outfit the lead on two occasions.

The last time these two sides met at the Gewiss Stadium, Atalanta won 1-0 but dominated the match, with 65% possession and 13 shots, whilst Young Boys had just one shot on target.

Malmo and Zenit go head to head with one another in Group H in what is effectively a battle for the Europa League qualification place due to the dominance of Chelsea and Juventus in this group.

The hosts are yet to score a point in the Champions League this season, whilst Zenit have three to their name having hammered the Swedish outfit 4-0 via goals by Claudinho, Daler Kuzyayev, Aleksei Sutormin and Wendel.

Although talismanic figure Artem Dzyuba failed to score in their last meeting with Malmo, he did score a hattrick for his club at the weekend versus Nizhny Novgorod, taking his league goal tally up to 10 in 15 appearances, with all of his goals coming in his last eight matches.