Manchester United and Newcastle risk their lives in the Champions League

Four tickets to the round of 16 still need to be defined and the Premier League could be left with only Manchester City and Arsenal in the competition.

10/12/2023, 05:53 PM +00:00

All options remain open in the final Champions League group stage matches this week for struggling Manchester United as well as Newcastle, who have had injury problems. The options: advance to the round of 16, settle for the Europa League or suffer a financial blow by being completely eliminated.

United must bounce back from Saturday's embarrassing 3-0 loss to Bournemouth in the Premier League and need to overcome Bayern Munich, who advanced from last month. Newcastle hosts AC Milan in a duel in which both need a win to avoid being eliminated in the closest group in which Paris Saint-Germain could leave them both out.

If so, it would be the weakest performance by English teams in the last 11 years, at the worst time. The two extra places in next year's 36-team Champions League will be awarded to the two countries that have the best collective record in all UEFA competitions.

United are last in Group A, one behind Copenhagen and Galatasaray and must beat Bayern and wait for the others to draw in Denmark. Newcastle and Milan are tied on five points in Group F and only a win will put them above PSG in second place. But PSG visits leader Borussia Dortmund knowing that it only needs a draw to beat Milan in the tiebreaker, although not Newcastle.

The Tickets

For the other two tickets, Napoli needs to draw with Braga on Tuesday and could even advance with a one-goal loss. A draw for Porto against Shakhtar Donetsk would give them an advantage in the Group because in September the Portuguese team beat the Ukrainian champion.

The duels in which elimination from the Champions League is at stake include Lens hosting Sevilla and Salzburg hosting Benfica. Newcastle and Milan could end up in Europe's second division if PSG beat Dortmund. Sevilla has supremacy in the Europa League, with seven titles in 20 years. After winning the championship in May, Sevilla earned its place in the Champions League despite finishing 12th in the Spanish league and now needs to beat Lens on Tuesday. The draw will take place on December 18 and the winners of their groups will be joined by Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta.