AC Milan and Barcelona can wrap up their Champions League group with two matches to spare and reduce their much-anticipated meeting next month to a mere friendly if both win their respective games tonight.
However, due to the mathematical intricacies of the Champions League, neither of the big two will qualify tonight should one of them lose.
AC Milan and Barcelona have taken seven points each from three games while BATE Borisov and Viktoria Plzen have one apiece in Group H.
The group stage is again in danger of becoming a mere warm-up exercise for the big teams, contradicting the cliché which says there are no easy games in football.
Apart from Benfica, the only surprise leaders in the eight groups are Cypriots APOEL Nicosia, who host Europa League champions Porto in Group G tonight.
“We are happy to be top with five points. It’s a big thing for APOEL and Cyprus. We are not top of the group through luck but we still know that everything can change with every match,” coach Ivan Jovanovic said.
One point clear of Zenit St Petersburg and Porto, APOEL could drop to third place if they lose and the Russians beat Shakhtar Donetsk in the group’s other game tonight.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)