Barcelona on brink of exit, Messi shines at PSG

LONDON: The Champions League enters the next-to-last round of games, with five teams — Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Napoli and Club Brugge — already qualified for the last 16.

Here’s a few things to look out for this week:

Spanish teams struggling

While Madrid have advanced with two games to spare, the other Spanish teams — Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla — face elimination after poor group-stage campaigns. Barcelona and Sevilla are in the toughest situations.

Atletico, who host Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, can go through with two victories to close out Group B. Barcelona may play their home match against Bayern Munich on Wednesday knowing they are already out of contention in Group C if Inter Milan defeat last-place Viktoria Plzen at home in the earlier game. It would mean a second consecutive elimination for Barcelona in the group stage.

Chelsea’s upturn

Back-to-back wins over AC Milan have lifted Chelsea from the bottom of Group E to the top. The two-time champion still have work to do to qualify, though. Just three points separate the four teams in the group as Chelsea head to second-place Salzburg on Tuesday and Milan travel to Dinamo Zagreb.

The loser of the game in Zagreb will likely be knocked out of contention. If it’s a draw, the winner of the Salzburg-Chelsea game will advance.  Salzburg are looking to advance to the round of 16 for the second straight year, whereas Chelsea have not failed to advance from the group stage since the 2012-13 season — when it was the defending champion. Even if Chelsea lose in Austria, the team will get another chance to qualify when Dinamo visit Stamford Bridge in the final round.

Of the other English teams, Tottenham lead another tight group —