We're only a couple matches into a six-match slog through the group stage of the Champions League, but on the bottom half of the draw, there already doesn't seem to be a heck of a lot of drama left in who is ultimately going to be advancing, or at least who's going to be finishing at the bottom of each group. The drive to the knockout rounds continues this Tuesday night with a number of matches that the top teams will hope further separates them from the bottom-feeders at the halfway point of group play.
These Champions League duels will go down Tuesday, October 18, 2016, with most of the kickoffs taking place at 2:45 p.m. ET. The Leicester City/Kobenhavn match will be televised live on ESPN2, while the Olympique Lyon/Juventus affair can be seen on FOX Sports 2.
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Dinamo Zagreb ( +600 ) vs. FC Sevilla
Olympique Lyon ( +450 ) vs. Juventus
CSKA Moscow ( +170 ) vs. AS Monaco
Club Brugge ( +330 ) vs. FC Porto
Real Madrid ( -1800 ) vs. Legia Warsaw
Bayer Leverkusen ( +115 ) vs. Tottenham
Sporting CP ( +235 ) vs. Borussia Dortmund
Leicester City ( -120 ) vs. FC Kobenhavn
What you'll notice immediately about these matches in Groups E, F, G and H is that there are a lot of lesser teams playing ball at home in make-or-break matches on Tuesday night.
The team under the biggest pressure to perform well at home is Lyon. The French side has been down this year, but there's still a path to get past either Juve or Sevilla in Group H to get into the knockout rounds. This match though, is a must win, and at +450, that's a hefty price for sure. In the other Group H fixture, Sevilla probably isn't going to have a problem with Dinamo Zagreb, a team that is still without a point and has been outscored 7-0 thus far in two matches, so the Lyon/Juve fixture is clearly the one to watch that will help decide this group. Neither Juventus nor Sevilla have allowed a goal yet in two UCL matches.
Further up the table in Group G, it's a big day at King Power Stadium. Leicester City was handed a bit of a gift in this group, but it still had to get on the field and finish the job. For all intents and purposes, this team can lock up a place in the knockout rounds with a win at home over FC Kobenhavn. The Danish side has four points through two matches and has to feel good about itself, and getting something out of this match could go a long way towards getting it into January play. Still, Leicester has a lot on the line here. Getting to nine points in three matches while simultaneously pulling five ahead of the field with just three matches to play would be an insurmountable lead. The Club Brugge/Porto match is certainly an eliminator should either team end up with no points from it, and the Portuguese side really needs these three points to put the pressure back on Kobenhavn.
Sporting CP has what's probably its last shot to make a statement in Group F. Real Madrid is going to win this group, and at -1800, it's the biggest favorite of the day and should crush Legia Warsaw. But can Sporting make things interesting with Borussia Dortmund? At +235 on the moneyline, the Portuguese side is going to be in it with a chance, but if this match is lost, we can pretty much pencil in Dortmund and Real into the last 16.
Group E is still much more interesting. All four teams have been saddled with at least one draw already, and that's keeping things right in the fire. AS Monaco is the group leader right now with four points, but it's got a very difficult task ahead of going to Moscow and playing against a very good CSKA team. If the Russians are going to advance, you'd like to think they're going to have to get at least something from this match, though three points would obviously be the key. Tottenham and Bayer Leverkusen are both right there with one another, and the Spurs will merely be hoping to steal something on the road in this one to avoid dropping out of the Top 2 in this group.
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