Jose Mourinho should copy Louis van Gaal, Arsenal’s November jinx and Brendan Rodgers’ desperation
From Leicester's fairytale looking set to continue and Southampton against Inter, here are seven things to look out for this week
PEP GUARDIOLA is the man who gracefully orchestrated arguably the most devastating football performances in history.
But against the club with which he raised the bar of greatness, his main concern is mistakes, mistakes, mistakes.
Manchester City have had four players sent off in their past five games against Barcelona.
Claudio Bravo's shocker in the Nou Camp 4-0 humbling showed how far City have to go to have any hope of a result tonight.
But that is just one of seven things to look out for in Europe this week...
A Champions League semi-final was considered a disaster for Pep Guardiola - now his City dream hangs by a thread
Guardiola admits a City side he is still trying to mould to his ways need a perfect game to take down Barcelona.
Should they fail then City's billion-pound Champions League dream will be hanging by a thread.
Guardiola said he hopes his quality up front will cause Luis Enrique's side some problems.
Sergio Aguero can expect to start this time but can he alone really nullify the threat brought by Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar?
The City boss did not make it past the semi-finals in three attempts with former club Bayern.
That was considered a bit of a disaster.
Not making the final four this time will surely represent a low water mark in Guardiola's career.
One more thing: City are unbeaten in their last six home Champions League games. They have never gone seven in a row without defeat at the Etihad in the competition.
Will Arsenal's November jinx start bang on cue?
Some things never change.
A win over Ludogorets in Bulgaria tonight will give Arsene Wenger his 17th consecutive season of Champions League last-16 football.
It should be a walk in the park after the 6-0 hammering at the Emirates two weeks ago.
But the casualty list will give Wenger some headaches.
Missing are Lucas Perez, Santi Cazorla, Hector Bellerin, Theo Walcott and Nacho Monreal.
Aaron Ramsey tentatively came back into from the frame in the 4-1 win over Sunderland but did not look 100 per cent after a long spell off.
The Gunners have been playing scintillating football but history has a habit of repeating itself.
Leicester to race into the last-16
Expect the fairytale to continue for Claudio Ranieri.
Unbeaten in Europe in three games and top of the group, keeper Kasper Schmeichel should not expect too much trouble at his "local" in Copengahen, who they saw off 1-0 last time.
A win will send the Foxes through to the last-16 as group winners.
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Jose Mourinho should give youngsters a chance against Fenerbahce
Will the Manchester United manager break with his tradition and give hungry young players a go?
It worked OK for Marcus Rashford last season under Louis van Gaal.
And Mourinho should do the same with Joe Riley and Axel Tuanzebe on Thursday night.
The pair trained with the first-team yesterday and the Special One owes it to the club to carry on the tradition of breaking club youngsters into the senior side.
Despite United fans being on red alert over terror warnings, club legends have spoke of the learning curve that came from playing in front of the Turkish fans.
Sir Alex Ferguson took 18-year-olds David Beckham, Gary Neville and Nicky Butt to Fenerbahce and Neville later said: "It was the most incredible noise I've experienced in my life."
Who will score for Spurs?
Two goals in three European games should not signal deafening alarm bells for Mauricio Pochettino.
But seen in the bigger picture the Argentine could be forgiven for becoming a bit twitchy.
Harry Kane is wrapped in cotton wall ahead of the weekend's North London derby.
The England striker has not played since September and still Dele Alli and Vincent Janssen are only one goal ahead of him.
Heung-min Son has been Spurs' bright spark but even he has gone more than a month without scoring.
Brendan Rodgers' desperation
Celtic need to beat Monchengladbach to really have any hope of staying in the Champions League.
The Bhoys are winless at the bottom of Group C and travel to Germany still hurting from the 2-0 defeat the Bundesliga side inflicted in Glasgow last time round.
A minor miracle here and, suddenly, Rodgers' debut season at Celtic Park could be remembered for all the right reasons.
The defeat to Lincoln Red Imps remains a stubborn stain on his CV, but some success in Europe could go someway to erasing it.
With Frank de Boer sacked, can Southampton run riot against Inter?
Three European Cups, 18 Serie A titles and seven Coppa Italia wins.
Inter's history is well-known, yet it is Southampton who should be favourites at St Mary's on Thursday.
With Frank de Boer now sacked as Inter boss, Claude Puel could make a real statement on the big stage.
The Saints hardly disgraced themselves in the 2-0 loss to Chelsea on Sunday and could go top of Group K with a win.