The first Champions League team will gain 10 points this week and are likely to progress to the knockout stages as the untested 36-team classification reaches the halfway point.

Bayer Leverkusen of Liverpool or Xabi Alonso will have ten points after Tuesday’s meeting at Anfield, while Manchester City can also do it by winning at Sporting Lisbon, which is still coached by Rúben Amorim until he joins Manchester United a week later.

English teams occupy the top three places in the rankings, with recent European champions Man City and Liverpool looking up to surprise leaders Aston Villa.

Villa, winner of the 1982 European Cup, will go for their fourth victory in a row at Club Brugge on Wednesday.

Much lower in the standings, the two teams with the most titles in the competition’s 70-season history – both led by Carlo Ancelotti – meet in Spain.

Record 15-time champions Real Madrid host AC Milan, with seven titles, in a clash on Tuesday between the 12th and 25th ranked teams after three of eight rounds.

The new format only sends the top eight teams directly to the round of 16 in January. Teams ranked 9 through 16 will be seeded in the knockout play-offs round in February against teams ranked 17 through 24. The winners of these two-leg meetings will advance to the round of 16 in March.

UEFA’s pre-season simulations suggested that just eight points from eight games would be enough to enter the knockout stages.

Yet the losses so far to Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern have shown how predictions can be turned around.

Unbalanced schedules

All 36 teams were given a balanced list of opponents by drawing two teams from each of the four seeding pots based on UEFA competition results over the past five years.

However, the order of play can be skewed and Leipzig are languishing with zero points after losing to three high-ranked opponents. Leipzig now play Celtic, from the lower ranked number 3 seeds.

Sporting are also a Pot 3 team, meaning Man City have a third lower-ranked opponent in the first half of their schedule.

Liverpool have excelled despite a premier fixture list. Leverkusen is the third high-ranked opponent, followed by Real Madrid at Anfield on November 27.

Atletico Madrid are underperforming in 27th place and travel to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, but the three-time beaten finalists have one of the softest schedules to come.

Sliding doors

Xabi Alonso could have been in the home team’s dugout on Tuesday. Liverpool offered their former star midfielder, Champions League winner in the epic 2005 final, the chance to succeed Jurgen Klopp this season.

Alonso opted to stay with Leverkusen and take the unbeaten Bundesliga champions to the Champions League. Liverpool turned to Arne Slot from Feyenoord, who is off to a historically good start with the Premier League leaders.

Rúben Amorim works against Manchester City on Tuesday, just weeks after being linked with becoming the club’s next coach.

Pep Guardiola’s future plans are unclear with his contract expiring next year, and Man City have already announced that the director of football next season will be Amorim’s current front office boss at Sporting, Hugo Viana.

Dominant English

Played 12, won 10, drew two, lost none.

The four English teams have not even conceded a goal since the third minute of the opening round, when AC Milan’s Christian Pulisic scored in Liverpool’s 3-1 win at San Siro.

The English Premier League uses financial power to its advantage and this result provides a fifth bonus for participation in next year’s competition.

Man City and Arsenal return to Europe after losing at the weekend. Guardiola’s team will be looking to avoid a rare third straight defeat against Sporting’s in-form Viktor Gyökeres. The Swedish forward spent five seasons on loan at lower-tier teams in Germany and England before joining Sporting last year.

Arsenal return to Italy to face Inter Milan after a 0-0 draw with Atalanta in nearby Bergamo.

Surprisingly French

Few saw this coming in the four-team French challenge. Monaco and Brest are unbeaten in fourth and fifth places respectively, with Lille in the top half of the standings and PSG at the back.

Brest face one of the lowest-ranked opponents again on Wednesday when they play Sparta Prague, with games against Real Madrid and Barcelona in the second half.

Monaco already defeated Barcelona and now go to Bologna, one of four teams who have not scored so far.

Lille receives Juventus on Tuesday at Stade Pierre-Mauroy, where Real Madrid was defeated 1-0 a month ago.

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AP Football: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer