5️⃣ things to look out for in Wednesday's Champions League action 💫 | OneFootball

Champions League game week six closes out on Wednesday, with the new table format beginning to take shape, and qualification for the knockout stage edging ever closer.

Here's what to look out for from Wednesday's fixtures.

⚔️ Match of the Day

It was a toss up with Barcelona's trip to Borussia Dortmund but there is simply far more at stake for the meeting of Juventus and Manchester City.

The two sides come into the game in Turin in similarly poor form, and at risk of missing out on automatic qualification for the knockout stages, and possibly even the playoff round.

After impressing with wins against PSV and Leipzig, the Old Lady have not won any of their last three games in Europe, although they did get a point in their last clash with a Premier League side, drawing at Aston Villa.

Draws have been a theme of Juve's season, with an undefeated 15-game start in Serie A featuring nine, leaving them in sixth position, seven points off the pace.

City's recent struggles are well-documented, with just one win in their last nine games. Their Premier League form has taken a nosedive but the outright collapses against Sporting and Feyenoord are perhaps even more worrying.

While City have never won away to Juventus, all previous meetings came before Guardiola's arrival, and it's also a first-time meeting between him and Thiago Motta.

Both men need a win. Will either get it?

🔎 Team to Watch

📸 Gualter Fatia - 2024 Gualter Fatia

While most of the conversation around Portuguese football this season has centred on Sporting, and now-Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim, their cross-city rivals Benfica have gone under the radar despite some big wins.

The 4-0 destruction of Atlético de Madrid was one of the club's best results in years but there's also been wins at Monaco and Red Star Belgrade, and a narrow defeat in Munich to Bayern.

A 3-1 home loss to Feyenoord suggests they can blow hot and cold but a home clash with Bologna represents a great chance to move closer to automatic qualification.

The Serie A side have struggled so far on their maiden voyage in the Champions League, failing to win a game and scoring just once and a raucous Estádio da Luz doesn't seem like the place for that to change.

🔥 Player to Watch

Jamie Gittens is enjoying a breakout season for Borussia Dortmund, with the young Englishman arguably being their standout performer so far.

The 20-year-old winger has scored in his last three Bundesliga games, which included a fine strike against Bayern Munich but it's been in the Champions League where he has caught the most eyes.

He has four goals and an assist from the opening five games, which has helped Nuri Şahin's side into a strong position to automatically qualify for the knockout stages, as well as take some of the pressure off the young coach given their poor domestic form.

Barcelona, and former Dortmund star Robert Lewandowski, are their latest test, but with Hansi Flick employing a very high defensive line, and Gittens already scoring against Real Madrid, he will fancy his chances.

Either way, it feels like a call-up to Thomas Tuchel's first England squad is a near formality at this point.

👀 Potential upset

📸 Ryan Pierse - 2024 Getty Images

Arsenal's recent upturn in form slowed down with a disappointing 1-1 draw at Fulham on Sunday, and they could be in for a tough night against Monaco at the Emirates, particularly with their ongoing defensive concerns.

Gabriel and Riccardo Calafiori have missed the last two games, and are likely to be absent again, while Jurriën Timber, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Thomas Partey are all doubts.

Adi Hütter's outfit have performed well at home and abroad so far this season, sitting third in their domestic league like the Gunners, and behind them in the Champions League only on goal difference, with both sides having 10 points from their opening five games.

They're unlikely to fear Mikel Arteta's men either, having already turned over Barcelona this season, and history is on their side.

Despite 11 players playing for both clubs, and Arsene Wenger coaching both, the only previous meetings between the clubs came in the round of 16 in the 2014/15 season. A Monaco side featuring Dimitar Berbatov and Anthony Martial knocked the Gunners out on away goals, having won 3-1 in north London.

Foreboding?

📊 Fascinating stat

Such is the financial disparity in modern-day football, it is hardly surprising Slovan Bratislava have found their first Champions League campaign a largely chastening experience.

An away trip to Diego Simeone's Atlético de Madrid is almost certain to see them lose again, which will make them just the sixth team to lose their first six games in the competition, two of which are, rather grimly, fellow Slovakian outfits – FC VSS Kosice in 1997/98 and MSK Zilina in 2010/11.

Could they spring a major surprise and avoid the same fate?

📸 Ryan Pierse - 2024 Getty Images