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Real Madrid, PSG and Man City are under pressure to start Champions League seasons

By STEVE DOUGLAS AP Sports Writer

The enlarged first phase of the revamped Champions League was supposed to be a walk in the park for giants of European football such as Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.

It proves anything but that.

In fact, ahead of the sixth of eight rounds in the revamped 36-team league format, there is a growing risk of an embarrassingly early exit for Madrid and City – the winners of the last two Champions League titles – as well as PSG, the French champions by far the worst of the four Ligue 1 teams in the competition.

24 clubs reach the knockout round, with the top eight qualifying directly for the round of 16 and the other 16 advancing to the home-and-away playoffs.

PSG are currently in 25th place – and therefore not in the qualifying round – while Kylian Mbappé and Madrid are just one place higher and remain in the final qualifying spot. Both are playing their third-to-last games away from home this week, with Madrid facing a tough game against Atalanta and PSG having a seemingly easier game in Salzburg, also on Tuesday.

City are in 17th place and have eight points – the number organizers UEFA’s stats guru predicted in simulations should be enough to progress – but defeat at Juventus on Wednesday would plunge the struggling English champions into potential trouble.

The game between PSG and Man City in the seventh round is likely to be of great importance, especially if things don’t go their way this week.

MADRID IN THE SWAMP

In previous Champions League competitions, the group stage ended with the sixth round of games and Madrid – the 15-time European champions – usually fielded a few fringe players who had a place in the round of 16 open.

This time they have lost three of their five games so far and now face an Atalanta team that is one of three teams that has not lost a game and has only conceded one goal. The Italian club, which won the Europa League last season, were beaten 2-0 by Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup in August but are now one of the best teams in Europe with nine straight wins and no defeats in 14 games in all competitions .

The attention on Mbappé has increased after two missed penalties in defeats to Liverpool in the Champions League and Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish league, but the French striker scored a goal in Saturday’s victory over Girona that could boost confidence.

PSG’s points troubles

PSG’s goal tally was expected to drop after Mbappe’s loss to Madrid, a year after Lionel Messi left for Inter Miami.

However, few saw that there were so many goals.

PSG, whose attack still consists of Randal Kolo Muani, Ousmane Dembele, Goncalo Ramos and Bradley Barcola, have scored just three goals in their five league games – their fourth-worst total in the competition.

However, only three teams have conceded more than Salzburg’s 15 goals – five of which they conceded in the last round at Bayer Leverkusen – so PSG should survive against one of the most porous defenses of all. Salzburg is also only in fifth place in the twelve-team Austrian league, but is somehow on its way to next summer’s Club World Cup alongside PSG.

THE BATTLES OF THE CITY

City need just one more win to secure progression, but victories are no longer a sure thing for Pep Guardiola’s struggling and injury-plagued team.

In their last nine games in all competitions, City have lost six times, drawn twice and won just once. There were two Champions League games in this series – a 4-1 defeat against Sporting Lisbon and a 3-3 draw against Feyenoord, who were still trailing 3-0 in the 75th minute.

LIVERPOOL’S WINNING RUN

First-placed Liverpool are the only team to both score a maximum of 15 points and are guaranteed to reach the knockout stages. The Premier League leaders are aiming for a sixth straight win in an away game at Girona on Tuesday.

Inter Milan are in second place and have not conceded a goal before their trip to Leverkusen, also on Tuesday.

In another outstanding game, Barcelona face Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, where the teams in third and fourth place meet.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.