With the penultimate matchweek of the UEFA Champions League group stage upon us, there are still plenty of big teams who will have to fight tooth and nail for their space in the knockout rounds.
We caught up with Bet9ja Ambassador Victor Ikpeba for his expert take on this week’s fixtures.
Manchester United and Newcastle United’s Champions League future is in the balance. How do you see Newcastle’s trip to Paris going?
VI: Newcastle are in a tough position after their back-to-back losses against Borussia Dortmund home and away. We knew that this was going to be a tough group to qualify from, but they still have a good chance of qualifying if they avoid defeat against PSG.
PSG will want revenge for their 4-1 defeat at Saint James’ Park earlier this season – that was a massive result for Newcastle but I felt like the scoreline flattered them a bit. PSG had one of those days where despite all the firepower that they have upfront they failed to gel, and Newcastle used all of the crowd’s energy to capitalise on every mistake that the French champions made.
We know that Newcastle can be solid at the back when they need to be, but the key to getting a positive result from this game is not getting dominated in midfield and being clinical up front. We know that Alexander Isak, Callum Wilson, and the Brazilian Joelinton can provide moments of quality going forward. If they get a draw from this game they can go into their final match against AC Milan with a good chance of qualifying.
And what about Manchester United’s chances of qualification?
VI: This Champions League campaign has been far from ideal for Manchester United. There’s been a lot of drama in their matches, and they’ve been on the wrong end of a lot of massive moments such as Copenhagen’s dramatic win against them in Denmark and Galatasaray’s win at Old Trafford.
They need to get a big result in Istanbul this week. It is no secret that Galatasaray are a tough side to visit, and with a big final match against Bayern Munich and Harry Kane in the final matchday they will be dead and buried if they can’t find a positive result.
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