Champions League permutations: Who needs what to qualify for the last 16?

The final round of Champions League group stage fixtures is set to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday with many teams still hoping to secure their progression to the knockout stages.

Twelve teams have already qualified for the round of 16, leaving just four places up for grabs.

Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool are all through, while Tottenham face a tricky match in Marseille and could still finish first, second or third.

So what are the permutations for each of the eight groups ahead of this week’s fixtures. 

Sportsmail takes a deep dive into the potential outcomes. 

Chelsea beat RB Salzburg last week to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages

Liverpool have also qualified with 12 teams having already sealed their place in the round of 16

Group A

Fixtures (November 1): Liverpool vs Napoli and Rangers vs Ajax

The qualification for this group is all wrapped up, with Napoli and Liverpool already having qualified.

Similarly, barring a six goal defeat to Rangers, Ajax will finish third and drop into the Europa League.

Top spot is technically not finalised although Liverpool will need to beat Napoli by four goals or more which seems unlikely given the form of both sides.

Liverpool have to beat Napoli by more than four goals to stop the Italians topping the group

Group B

Fixtures (November 1): Porto vs Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen vs Club Brugge

Like Group A, qualification has already been secured by surprise table-toppers Club Brugge and Porto.

Only one point separates the top two and therefore the Belgian side will finish top if they win, both games are drawn, or if Porto lose.

The Portuguese outfit will be first if they win and Brugge don’t or if they draw and the Belgian side lose.

Belgian side Club Brugge have been the surprise story of this season’s Champions League

Group C

Fixtures (November 1): Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan and Viktoria Plzen vs Barcelona

Group C is also tied up with Bayern set to finish first, Inter second, Barcelona third and Plzen fourth.

The only jeopardy in this group is whether the German champions finish with six wins from six.

Bayern Munich have won five games out of five in the group stage so far this season

Group D

Fixtures (November 1): Sporting Lisbon vs Eintracht Frankfurt and Marseille vs Tottenham

The most exciting group heading into the final matchday with all four teams still able to qualify for the round of 16.

If Tottenham manage to avoid defeat in France they will qualify for the knockout stages. 

They will finish first if they win, or if both games are drawn. If they lose they may miss out, depending on other results – but they are unable to finish fourth. 

Antonio Conte’s side face Marseille knowing they could still finishing first, second or third

Sporting, who drew 1-1 with Tottenham last week – will quality for the round of 16 if they avoid defeat.

They will end up in first place if they beat Frankfurt and Spurs fail to defeat Marseille.

The Portuguese side will finish in third if they and Marseille lose, but they will be fourth if Marseille win and they lose.

Last season’s Europa League winners Frankfurt are through if they beat Sporting, while they could finish first if they win and Spurs are defeated in France.

Meanwhile, Marseille have to beat Spurs on Tuesday night to qualify and they could still finish first if the Sporting vs Frankfurt match ends in a draw.  

Perhaps remarkably, the bottom two sides in the group currently have the potential to finish in the top two. 

Marseille are also able to qualify despite being bottom, with all teams still in with a chance

Group E

Fixtures (November 2): Chelsea vs Dinamo Zagreb and AC Milan vs RB Salzburg 

Chelsea have sown up Group E as table-toppers after beating AC Milan twice.

Milan face Salzburg in a crunch clash with the Italian giants currently one point ahead and therefore if they avoid defeat, they will qualify with Graham Potter’s side.

Dinamo meanwhile are unable to qualify despite being three points behind Milan, by virtue of having lost to Stefan Pioli’s side along with Salzburg.

AC Milan face a crunch clash with RB Salzburg to decide who will qualify with Chelsea

Stefan Pioli’s side need to avoid defeat against the Austrian side to reach the round of 16

Group F

Fixtures (November 2): Real Madrid vs Celtic and Shakhtar Donetsk vs RB Leipzig

Carlo Ancelotti’s side are currently one point clear of Leipzig and will be group winners if they beat Celtic or if Leipzig fail to win.

The German side face Shakhtar in Warsaw and will qualify if they avoid defeat – while if they win and Los Blancos lose, they will overtake the reigning European champions.

However, if Shakhtar manage to beat Leipzig, they will be through to the round of 16 in what would be a remarkable story.

Celtic are meanwhile condemned to fourth place and look set to go winless on their return to the Champions League group stage for the first time in five years.

Shakhtar Donetsk will qualify if they beat RB Leipzig in what would be a remarkable story

Champions League holders Real Madrid may not top the group after last week’s loss to Leipzig

Group G

Fixtures (November 2): Manchester City vs Sevilla and FC Copenhagen vs Borussia Dortmund

Group G is already decided with City set to finish first, ahead of Dortmund, while Sevilla are stuck in third and Copenhagen will finish last.

Pep Guardiola’s side will aim to go unbeaten throughout the group stage as they chase the trophy that has eluded them thus far.

Manchester City have dominated their Champions League group and qualified with ease

Group H

Fixtures (November 2): Juventus vs Paris Saint Germain and Maccabi Haifi vs Benfica

PSG and Benfica have qualified from this group, while Juventus and Maccabi will finish in the bottom two – but the exact positions are yet to be decided.

The Parisians have a better goal difference than Benfica by four so the Portuguese side – who are unbeaten in all competitions this season will have to better PSG’s result.

Their meetings both ended 1-1 so if Benfica won by four more goals than PSG’s margin, the result on who topped the table would go down to away goals scored in group matches. 

At the bottom, Juventus are currently ahead of Maccabi on goal difference as both teams won their direct home encounters by a two-goal margin.

This means that the Italian giants just need to equal the Israeli side’s result and avoid a six goal swing to not face the embarrassment of failing to even qualify for the Europa League.

PSG and Benfica qualified with ease and both sides remain unbeaten with 11 points from five

Juventus crashed out in embarrassing fashion and may still finish bottom of their group