Champions League: Group-by-group permutations

The group stage of this season's Champions League has moved past the halfway point, with some clubs already looking forward to the knock-out rounds while others are set for a disappointing early exit from the competition.

Manchester United are sitting pretty at the top of their group, but rivals Manchester City are on course to fail to reach the last 16 for the second successive season.
Chelsea, Arsenal and Celtic are all still in the mix for a top-two finish, but what is the story across Europe? BBC Sport takes a look at the standings.

Group A

Porto lost their perfect winning record on Tuesday but are through to the next round with two games to spare after a 0-0 draw with Dynamo Kiev.
Paris St-Germain are on course to progress with the Portuguese champions after their 4-0 victory against bottom-placed Dinamo Zagreb left them five points ahead of Kiev. Manager Carlo Ancelotti had Zlatan Ibrahimovic to thank once again as a selfless performance from the Swedish striker saw him set up all four goals.

Group B

Arsenal surrendered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at unbeaten table-toppers Schalke . Arsene Wenger's side are still well placed in second, a point behind the Germans, but a defeat in either of their remaining fixtures could leave them vulnerable.
Olympiakos are a point behind in third after they completed the double against French champions Montpellier thanks to late goals by Leandro Greco and Kostas Mitroglou. The Greek club host Arsenal in the final round of group games on 4 December, with the result likely to be crucial to deciding who progresses.

Group C

Surprise package Malaga are through to the next round after a 1-1 draw at AC Milan kept them five points clear at the top. The Spanish side were denied a famous victory at the San Siro by a header from Alexandre Pato, which was the first goal they had conceded in the group.
Anderlecht moved ahead of Zenit St Petersburg into third place after Dieudonne Mbokani's effort saw the Belgians claim their their first Champions League home win in nine years.

Group D

Manchester City remain bottom of the group and on the verge of another early Champions League exit, with table toppers Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid looking favourites to make the last 16.
City fought back from two early Siem de Jong goals for Ajax to draw 2-2 at home, but their hopes of progressing look slim as they need to take maximum points against Real in Manchester later this month and away in Dortmund, while hoping other results go their way.
Real themselves had Mesut Ozil to thank after the midfielder's 89th minute goal against his countrymen saw the Spanish champions salvage a 2-2 draw at the Bernabeu.

Group E

Champions League holders Chelsea's hopes of topping the group took a dent with their 2-1 defeat in Donetsk last month.
Boss Roberto Di Matteo has targeted two home wins from their remaining games against Shakhtar and Nordsjaelland to qualify.
Juventus have drawn all three games to lie in third spot, and Di Matteo's side are still to travel to Turin.

Group F

In the competition's tightest group Bayern Munich, Valencia and BATE Borisov are locked at the top on six points each.
Borisov - from Belarus - pulled off the shock of the tournament so far when they beat last year's finalists Bayern at the start of October, and have a real chance of making it through to the knockout stages.
Lille look destined to finish bottom of the group, losing all three games so far and scoring only once in the process.

Group G

Unsurprisingly, Barcelona look comfortable at the top with a 100% record as Tito Vilanova's side look for a fourth title in eight seasons.
Celtic came within seconds of holding on for a famous draw at the Nou Camp last time out, and Neil Lennon's men could move a step closer to qualification if they manage any sort of result against Barca in Glasgow on Wednesday night.
Much could rest on the Bhoys' final game, at home to Spartak Moscow on 5 December.
Spartak and Benfica could both still take second spot though, with the sides meeting in Portugal this week.

Group H

Manchester United came from 2-0 down to beat Braga last month and move five points clear at the top of their group.
But Sir Alex Ferguson's men could still come unstuck with back-to-back away games, at Braga on Wednesday then at Galatasary later this month.
Romanian side Cluj have given themselves a chance of making it out of the group stage for the first time after collecting four points from their first three games and are second in the table.