Newcastle are three points away from the automatic qualification spots but also just three points clear of the elimination places.

Three points at the BayArena would be absolutely huge for the Magpies' Champions League ambitions here.

Image source, Getty Images

Shamoon Hafez
Football news reporter at the Bernabeu

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City sported a new green fourth kit during their Champions League victory against Villarreal on in October - but they will not be able to wear it in the Premier League.

Top-flight clubs in England can only wear a maximum of three strips in a league campaign, meaning Pep Guardiola's side cannot play in their new gaming-inspired kit.

However, there is no limit in the Champions League, meaning City can sport their new strip for the rest of their European campaign, as they are doing tonight.

Thoughts on the kit? Hit the thumbs.

Manchester City

Man City boss Pep Guardiola, speaking to TNT Sports: "They are good ones and they are tight. Last season we were not able to compete against them.

"Hopefully, this season we can do it well again."

On unchanged side: "We played good against Sunderland. Some patterns I like, it is different shape because Madrid play differently, but yes looking I'm forward to that."

On Rayan Cherki: "Step by step, he is so young. First time playing in bigger stadiums, but he has a huge personality and he of course has something unique in the final third."

On Real Madrid: "I was born in Catalonia, Spain. I have been 23 times inside this stadium...

"Whatever happens, Madrid is one of the greatest teams ever."

Juan Castro
Football Journalist for Marca on BBC Radio 5 Live

A lot of pressure [on Xabi Alonso].

It is not fair that all the pressure is on Xabi Alonso because the players are responsible.

If you don't win you are always under pressure. The fans are not looking only to Xabi, but they're looking to the players.

Guillem Balague
Spanish football journalist

Xabi Alonso's Real Madrid fate has not yet been decided but Wednesday's Champions League game against Manchester City at the Bernabeu could prove crucial.

Fans are losing patience and Madrid were booed off after Sunday's 2-0 La Liga defeat by Celta Vigo, prompting an emergency meeting for the club's hierarchy to discuss Alonso's future.

Real remain four points behind leaders Barcelona having won just one of their last five La Liga matches and, after a dramatic slump since beating Barcelona in October, it seems now his chances of survival are very slim.

Alonso arrived at Real in the summer offering a modern approach but the club has to accept that this step is necessary. And it still resists.

President Florentino Perez has never fully believed in this kind of change, even though people inside the club convinced him to appoint Rafa Benitez, Julien Lopetegui and Xabi Alonso - steps in a new direction.

But the moment they falter, show doubt or the players stop buying in, Perez turns his thumb down, given that in the past the club has been more successful with less interventionist coaches like Carlo Ancelotti or Zinedine Zidane.

John Murray
BBC football correspondent on BBC Radio 5 Live at Bernabeu

On Xabi Alonso being under pressure at Real Madrid...

Under pressure? You would not believe it.

We were in the Bernabeau earlier and talking to some of my trusted colleagues who cover Real Madrid week in, week out, and it was a frenzy.

By Real Madrid standards they're in the middle of a crisis here and Alonso was aright at the start of it. Things have unravelled for him so quickly in recent weeks.

Talking to my colleagues based here.One of them said, "He's dead". They're saying, "He is finished as Real Madrid manager."

They said it is "toxic", and they're "not a team". It is a remarkable fall from grace with the way they started this season with Xabi Alonso.

At the start of November they had a five point lead over Barcelona and now Barcelona are four points behind them...

Jonathan Woodgate
Former Real Madrid defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

Manager scrutiny is gigantic. If you lose a game it is a catastrophic. There is pressure constantly.

Andros Townsend
Former Tottenham midfielder on BBC Radio 5 Live

Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane, they let the players get on with it.

In the summer Real Madrid said they wanted a bit of structure, and they wanted a forward-thinking manager.

You have to give Xabi Alonso what he wants. Look at PSG as a model, Luis Enrique with the big egos, it didn't work out.

At the start of his PSG tenure he had disciplinary issues, similar to what Madrid are having. Alonso can turn Madrid into the best team in Europe if he is given the time.

Shamoon Hafez
Football news reporter in Madrid

Xabi Alonso faced the media on Tuesday morning, following the weekend's limp defeat by Celta Vigo, bearing the haunted look of a man weighed down by the intense scrutiny accompanying arguably the biggest job in world football.

In an often awkward pre-match news conference, Alonso managed to keep his composure when fielding questions about his possible replacements, on whether he felt lonely in the job and if he was disappointed in the players.

A pointed moment came when he was asked whether he felt supported by the team and he simply replied: "Yes."

That sequence of results could be classed as worrying at any top-flight club, but is deemed unacceptable at one the magnitude of Real.

City, though, present a stern test to a team in need of a change of form.

Real come into this match having lost 2-0 to Celta Vigo at the Bernabeu on Sunday, which ended a run of 11 successive wins at home. They had three players sent off during the defeat.

Pressure has been mounting on boss Xabi Alonso and some have suggested defeat tonight could spell the end of his six-month period in charge.

Real are second in La Liga, four points off Barcelona in top spot. But for their lofty standards, it's not been considered good enough.

Concerns around the manager have been compounded by an injury crisis with Kylian Mbappe, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao and Dean Huijsen all been ruled out.

Image source, Getty Images

Familiar faces all round tonight in the opposing dugouts.

Xabi Alonso made 79 appearances for Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich, winning three major trophies together between 2014-16.

The two have never met as managers.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Club Brugge are a club in crisis coming into this.

They sacked boss Nicky Hayen on Monday after a poor domestic and European campaign. They have replaced him with manager Croatian Ivan Leko, who is in his second spell in charge of the club.

The Belgians sit 27th in the Champions League table with just four points from five matches and are fighting to stay in the competition.

Last month they led Barcelona three times before settling for a 3-3 draw but they have lost four of their last six games since then.

Hayen's last game in charge was the 3-2 defeat at Sint-Truiden on Saturday in Belgium's top-flight.

Arsenal

Image source, Getty Images

Bruge at Christmas. Think waffles and mulled wine. Charming markets and ice rinks, twinkling lights and cozy cafes.

Sounds perfect - just like Arsenal's 100% winning record in the Champions League.

The Gunners are the only side in the competition with a perfect winning record from five games after wins against Athletic Club, Olympiakos, Atletico Madrid, Slavia Prague and Bayern Munich.

Will they secure their passage into the last 16 by defeating Club Brugge in Belgium and making it six wins out of six?

Are we in for more mayhem tonight in this storied fixture?

Previous history certainly suggests as much.

Shamoon Hafez
Football news reporter at the Bernabeu

Real Madrid v Manchester City is turning into a rivalry that defines the recent era of the Champions League.

The sides face-off in the group phase of the competition at the Bernabeu on Wednesday, meeting for the fifth consecutive campaign.

The pair met in February in the play-off stage, when an injury-ravaged City were beaten in both legs to suffer an early exit.

Asked if he is feeling more confident this time, boss Pep Guardiola replied: "Now I have more players. The Bernabeu is not an easy place."

City had been unbeaten in Europe this season before their shock 2-0 home defeat by Bayer Leverkusen last month, slipping to ninth in the standings.

"I would say we missed the opportunity in Leverkusen to be close," Guardiola. "But we're going to do our game.

"Hopefully we can perform like I wish [we can] when you go to bigger stages, to just play like who we are."

This fixture has been thrown up at us in various stages of the Champions League in the past four seasons.

And boy has it served up some crackers.

Last season, both sides found themselves in the play-offs after failing to finish inside the league phase's top eight.

Jude Bellingham scored in stoppage time at Etihad Stadium to tee up a huge game at the Bernabeu and Kylian Mbappe delivered with a hat-trick to send Real Madrid into the last-16.

Image source, Getty Images

The season before that, a 3-3 cracker in Madrid teed up a mouth-watering quarter-final second leg in Manchester.

A tense draw meant penalties were needed and Los Blancos ultimately progressed after misses from Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva.

Image source, Getty Images

Before that was Manchester City's Treble-winning season, where Pep Guardiola's side produced arguably their greatest ever Champions League performance to thrash Madrid in the semi-finals.

After a 1-1 at the Bernabeu, City cruised to a 4-0 win at the Etihad to reach the final.

Image source, Getty Images

And in 2021-22, Manchester City won the semi-final first leg at home 4-3 and looked to be heading for the Champions League final as they led the second leg in Madrid 1-0 heading into the 90th minute.

Cue two minutes of mayhem where Rodrygo scored twice to stun City and send the match to extra time, where Karim Benzema netted the winner to send them into the final, breaking City hearts in stunning style.

Image source, Getty Images

Shamoon Hafez
Football news reporter at the Bernabeu

Good evening from Madrid, I've had my breath taken away.

My goodness, what a stadium this is - four steep tiers all around this cathedral of football.

Real Madrid and Manchester City take centre stage here tonight with jobs on the line, if you believe what you read in the papers.

Real boss Xabi Alonso comes into this game under severe pressure and could be sacked if his side lose the game.

For City, it's an opportunity to right the wrong of their shock defeat by Bayer Leverkusen last time out.

Image source, BBC Sport