ManCity, Real and co.

Champions League: The great trembling of the giants

Manchester City's Erling Haaland (left) and Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe must be trembling.(Bild: AP/Peter Byrne, Martin Rickett)

The great trembling of the giants: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus Turin all fear for direct promotion to the round of 16 in the Champions League!

Three rounds before the end of the league phase, the battle for the top 8 and thus direct promotion to the last 16 of the Champions League gets really serious from today: Liverpool, the only team without losing points, would be through with victory number six at Girona. Inter Milan would also be in with a very good chance with a three-pointer in Leverkusen, while Marko Arnautovic is hoping for playing time: he has only played 43 minutes since the beginning of November.

Marko Arnautovic(Bild: AFP/APA/GABRIEL BOUYS)

Giants tremble, along with Juve and Manchester City, who clash tomorrow, including the defending champions: After three defeats in five matches, Real Madrid can only win, starting in Bergamo: But Atalanta are in great form, leading Serie A for the first time in the club's history after 15 rounds.

In Salzburg's home match against Paris Saint-Germain, the pressure is on the visitors, who are only in 25th place with four points. The French top club is threatened with an early exit.

Leipzig report only twelve fit outfield players
Konrad Laimer and Bayern face Donetsk at Schalke - three points are a must! Problems plague Leipzig, who are without points and only have twelve fit outfield players on board after eight absentees against Aston Villa. Xaver Schlager would also be ready again, but was not registered for the league phase due to his cruciate ligament rupture in the summer.