It's going to be tough to live up to yesterday's games; Milan nicking a point from Barcelona at the death at Camp Nou, Ivan Perisic's stunning volley to bring Borussia Dortmund level with Arsenal, Hulk's jaw-dropping free kick for Porto against Shakhtar Donetsk. Best of all, every game was competitive; Chelsea's 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen was the day's most lopsided result and that was 0-0 until the 67th minute. You'll occasionally see some pretty one-sided affairs at this stage of the Champions League; not yesterday.
Still, there are some very intriguing looking games on today's slate. Manchester City-Napoli is probably the most high profile of the bunch, and Kirsten will be in the corner breathing into a paper bag with occasional tequila breaks for the duration. Benefica-Manchester United is getting plenty of hype as well because, you know, Manchester United and all, but Benefica are a fine team and could well make this one interesting. Villarreal-Bayern Munich features two big clubs with a lot of first-rate talent.
In terms of games not involving Big-Three leagues, Ajax-Lyon has the potential to be a great one; same for Lille-CSKA Moscow. And in games with the potential to get ugly, Dinamo Zagreb hosts Real Madrid while Trabzonspor travels to the San Siro to face Inter Milan. Will the big boys take care of business? What young star from a lesser know league, beloved by fans as a deity, perform well enough for Manchester City to pay £50 million to put on their bench? Will Kirsten make it through the afternoon?