The UEFA Champions League is back with Matchday 6 taking place across Tuesday and Wednesday. Each club enters the week with three games to go — 270 minutes to make or break their league phase by securing a spot into the last 16, earning a playoff spot or watching the knockout stages from home.
The schedule includes some fantastic affairs with Inter hosting reeling Liverpool highlighting Tuesday’s slate as the Reds may be just be witnessing the end of Mohamed Salah’s tenure at the club. Wednesday’s slate features a battle of elite contenders in Real Madrid and Manchester City, but both seemingly have a point to prove to show that they are at the levels of recent years when they’ve conquered the continent.
Here’s how the CBS Sports team thinks this week’s action will shake out.
Don’t miss any of the Champions League. As always, you can catch all of our coverage across Paramount+, CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo Network all season long.
Champions League matches on Wednesday
Game of the day: Real Madrid vs. Man City
Player to watch: Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid — For all the drama that swirls around the Santiago Bernabeu, where there already seem to be questions over Xabi Alonso’s future, one thing has remained constant this season. Kylian Mbappe scores goals. Twenty-five in 21 club games this season, to be precise. It was against Manchester City nearly nine years ago that the then-Monaco forward first showed his prodigious talents and he has rarely let up on them since, netting a brilliant hat trick to knock them out of last season’s Champions League. — James Benge
Man of the match: Jeremy Doku, Manchester City — Pep Guardiola is back at the Bernabeu again playing against Real Madrid, the fourth most-faced team in his coaching career after Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. The Citizens are in great form and are back in contention for the Premier League as well while Real Madrid are facing a crisis with only one win in the last five LaLiga games (three draws, one win, one defeat). The pace and the technique of Doku can definitely become a big issue for the team managed by Xabi Alonso. — Francesco Porzio
Prediction: Real Madrid 1, Manchester City 2 — He may have started the job a few months ago, but it’s already time to talk about Xabi Alonso’s job security, momentum perhaps swinging in Manchester City’s favor ahead of the most anticipated game on Matchday 6. Momentum is not the only reason to pick City — flawed as they are in Pep Guardiola’s latest rebuild, the ideas seem to be clicking more often than not, plus Erling Haaland’s always impressive form always makes them a contender. — Pardeep Cattry
Best bet: Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to have 2+ shots on target (+164): Back your stars? Both of these teams are in a bit of a rut but they’ll look to get their star strikers shots to get out of them. Mbappe has continued to score no matter what happens with the club, and City’s only option is to feed Haaland, so let’s back them.– Chuck Booth
Leverkusen vs. Newcastle
Player to watch: Bruno Guimaraes, Newcastle — After Alexander Isak’s departure, Eddie Howe needed others to step up and share a scoring load that would have weighed too strongly on Nick Woltemade otherwise. Guimaraes has certainly done that, his five increasingly impressive goals so far this season, culminating in a wicked corner that swerved straight in in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Burnley. That Guimaraes has the quality to impose himself on Leverkusen’s talented midfield only makes it more important that he excels at the Bay Arena. — James Benge
Man of the match: Patrick Schick, Bayer Leverkusen — The German side has had some ups and down in the past weeks, but also won 2-0 in their last Champions League tie against Manchester City, one of the most surprising results of the season so far. Facing Newcastle at home, they have an immense chance to score some big points ahead of the next phase. Patrick Schick is in great form and has already scored two goals in the three Champions League matches he played so far. — Francesco Porzio
Prediction: Bayer Leverkusen 0, Newcastle United 1 — It has been an up and down season for both of these teams, who are likely to keep things tight in a closely-contested game. Newcastle United, though, have the quality needed to take all three points home with them, calling upon the likes of Nick Woltemade and Anthony Gordon to get the job done in attack. — Pardeep Cattry
Best bet: Under 2.5 goals (+110): With Leverkusen finding their feet, this is a hard matchup to pick, but it could turn into a defensive slugfest. Newcastle United have only allowed more than one goal in three of their last 11 games so it’s safe to say that Leverkusen will struggle to score, but the Magpies’ attack has also struggled to get things going. — Chuck Booth
