Matchday 5! Eight games today (2 each in Groups E-H) and eight more tomorrow (Groups A-D). The end of the Group stage is fast approaching: Matchday 6 is in two weeks, Dec 7-8, at which point the top two in each Group advance to the Knockout phase (which doesn’t begin until mid-Feb).

With that in mind, we give you not only this week’s fixtures, but also all the current group standings–and we take a quick look at how things are shaping up for which clubs will likely advance out of each group.  If you haven’t been paying sufficient attention over the past couple months/four Matchdays, here’s your chance to catch up:

(Note: as usual, we have pulled the list of fixtures–and here the group standings–from UEFA.com, with links preserved to club, group, and match pages–click through any of the links below for news, previous results, lineups, etc.)

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Group A

	Clubs	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1	Tottenham Hotspur FC	4	2	1	1	12	8	4	7
2	FC Internazionale Milano	4	2	1	1	11	8	3	7
3	FC Twente	4	1	2	1	6	7	-1	5
4	SV Werder Bremen	4	0	2	2	3	9	-6	2

Wednesday (24 Nov 2010) fixtures:

A		Internazionale	20:45	Twente		More »	Referee: Stéphane Lannoy (FRA) Stadium: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan (ITA)
A		Tottenham	20:45	Bremen		More »	Referee: Olegário Benquerença (POR) Stadium: White Hart Lane, London (ENG)

Dutch club Twente is chasing Spurs and Inter, and so Inter needs a result against Twente this Wednesday. Inter has been struggling mightily; if they lose again, Twente will leapfrog over them into the top two going into the final Matchday. Spurs will stay in the top half regardless of this Matchday’s results–so it will be interesting to see if they can avoid complacency and a letdown after their big win in the North London derby over the weekend, and win at home against Werder Bremen to stay atop the Group.

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Group B

	Clubs	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1	Olympique Lyonnais	4	3	0	1	9	5	4	9
2	FC Schalke 04	4	2	1	1	5	2	3	7
3	SL Benfica	4	2	0	2	6	7	-1	6
4	Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC	4	0	1	3	2	8	-6	1

Wednesday (24 Nov 2010) fixtures:

B		Schalke	20:45	Lyon		More »	Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (ITA) Stadium: Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen (GER)
B		H. Tel-Aviv	20:45	Benfica		More »	Referee: Alain Hamer (LUX) Stadium: Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv (ISR)

Benfica should win against Hapoel Tel Aviv–in which case Benfica jump up into 2nd place (or at least tied for 2nd on points, but possibly 3rd on goal differential–in the case that Schalke goes into Lyon and wins.)

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Group C

	Clubs	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1	Manchester United FC	4	3	1	0	5	0	5	10
2	Valencia CF	4	2	1	1	8	2	6	7
3	Rangers FC	4	1	2	1	2	4	-2	5
4	Bursaspor	4	0	0	4	0	9	-9	0

Wednesday (24 Nov 2010) fixtures:

C		Rangers	20:45	Man. United		More »	Referee: Massimo Busacca (SUI) Stadium: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow (SCO)
C		Valencia	20:45	Bursaspor		More »	Referee: Bruno Miguel (POR) Stadium: Estadi de Mestalla, Valencia (ESP)

Man U have virtually assured them a spot in the Knockout phase–the only way they finish in 3rd is if they lose out and both Valencia and Rangers win out.  Which is not inconceivable, since Valencia play hapless, pointless and even goalless Bursapor at home Wednesday; and then Valencia visits Old Trafford  for Matchday 6.  Most likely scenario is that Valencia and Man U will advance, with that final match on Dec 7 determining the order.

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Group D

	Clubs	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1	FC Barcelona	4	2	2	0	9	3	6	8
2	FC København	4	2	1	1	4	3	1	7
3	FC Rubin Kazan	4	0	3	1	1	2	-1	3
4	Panathinaikos FC	4	0	2	2	1	7	-6	2

Wednesday (24 Nov 2010) fixtures:

D		Rubin	18:30	København		More »	Referee: Martin Atkinson (ENG) Stadium: Centralni, Kazan (RUS)
D		Panathinaikos	20:45	Barcelona		More »	Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA) Stadium: OACA Spiros Louis Stadium, Athens (GRE)

Barcelona and København are virtually assured to advance from this group.  There are scenarios by which Rubin Kazan could do so–if they actually win a game this time, they’ll be just a point behind København going into the final Matchday; but then they’ll have to go into the Camp Nou on Dec 8 and get a result as well.  Barcelona has been surprisingly undominant, with 2 wins at home, but 2 draws on the road.  So a win in Athens would be nice to clinch the group–as well as maintain momentum going to El Classico back in Spain on Monday!

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Group E

	Clubs	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1	FC Bayern München	4	4	0	0	11	3	8	12
2	AS Roma	4	2	0	2	6	8	-2	6
3	CFR 1907 Cluj	4	1	0	3	5	10	-5	3
4	FC Basel 1893	4	1	0	3	7	8	-1	3

Tuesday (23 Nov 2010) fixtures:

E		Roma	20:45	Bayern		More »	Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (ESP) Stadium: Stadio Olimpico, Rome (ITA)
E		Basel	20:45	CFR Cluj		More »	Referee: Laurent Duhamel (FRA) Stadium: St. Jakob-Park, Basel (SUI)

It looks like Bayern and Roma should finish 1-2 in this group–although if Roma loses today at home, it gets more complicated..

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Group F

	Clubs	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1	Chelsea FC	4	4	0	0	12	2	10	12
2	FC Spartak Moskva	4	2	0	2	5	6	-1	6
3	Olympique de Marseille	4	2	0	2	8	3	5	6
4	MŠK Žilina	4	0	0	4	1	15	-14	0

Tuesday (23 Nov 2010) fixtures:

F		Spartak Moskva	18:30	Marseille		More »	Referee: Wolfgang Stark (GER) Stadium: Luzhniki Stadion, Moscow (RUS)
F		Chelsea	20:45	Žilina		More »	Referee: Robert Schörgenhofer (AUT) Stadium: Stamford Bridge, London (ENG)

Spartak Moskva and OM fighting for the 2nd spot–so the match in Moscow is a big one.

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Group G

	Clubs	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1	Real Madrid CF	4	3	1	0	7	2	5	10
2	AC Milan	4	1	2	1	5	5	0	5
3	AFC Ajax	4	1	1	2	4	6	-2	4
4	AJ Auxerre	4	1	0	3	3	6	-3	3

Tuesday (23 Nov 2010) fixtures:

G		Ajax	20:45	Real Madrid		More »	Referee: Craig Thomson (SCO) Stadium: Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam (NED)
G		Auxerre	20:45	Milan		More »	Referee: Damir Skomina (SVN) Stadium: Stade Abbé-Deschamps, Auxerre (FRA)

Real Madrid is virtually certain of advancing (there is an unlikely scenario in which Milan and Ajax could advance over them–if both win out, and Madrid loses to Auxerre at the Bernabeu–and even then Ajax would need to catch up with Madrid on goal differential! So the battle is really for 2nd place–and it could be any of the other 3.  So both games in this Group should be interesting.  Will Mourinho go for a win in Amsterdam–or rest some players in advance of El Classico?  Meanwhile, Milan has been winning in Serie A, but only has a single win in four Champions League matches so far, and has to go into Auxerre today.

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Group H

	Clubs	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
1	Arsenal FC	4	3	0	1	15	4	11	9
2	FC Shakhtar Donetsk	4	3	0	1	7	6	1	9
3	SC Braga	4	2	0	2	3	9	-6	6
4	FK Partizan	4	0	0	4	1	7	-6	0

Tuesday (23 Nov 2010) fixtures:

H		Braga	20:45	Arsenal		More »	Referee: Viktor Kassai (HUN) Stadium: Estádio Municipal de Braga, Braga (POR)
H		Partizan	20:45	Shakhtar Donetsk		More »	Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (BEL) Stadium: FK Partizan, Belgrade (SRB)

Arsenal’s loss at Donetsk on Matchday 4 makes this Group much more interesting.  It’s looking likely to be Arsenal and Shakhtar Donetsk that will advance–but Arsenal need win in Portugal today to avoid some pressure on the final Matchday (not to mention rebounding from Saturday’s disappointing loss to Spurs).  Arsenal demolished Braga 6-0 on Matchday 1, so one would think they should win again today–but they’d also defeated Donetsk 5-1 on Matchday 3 before turning around and losing to them a couple weeks later.