Ousmane Dembele on Wednesday scored a hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain romped to a 4-1 win at VfB Stuttgart and qualified for the UEFA Champions League knockout stages.

Manchester City flirted with a disastrous exit from the Champions League before rallying to beat Club Brugge 3-1 in a must-win game Wednesday and advanced to the knockout phase. M

Bayern Munich is building for the future by snapping up goalkeeper Jonas Urbig from Cologne. The Bavarian powerhouse announced the transfer late Monday.

Bayern Munich will have to switch their mentality to fit the knockout games of the Champions League, coach Vincent Kompany said on Wednesday, with the Bavarians potentially facing Manchester City in the playoff for a Round of 16 spot.

Plus, how three French teams can get byes, and how one Italian rival could knock another out of the top eight, and more

Why there are options on the draw… Like your writers, I was initially wondering why there is a draw now for those in the UCL play-offs – i.e. why Man City will play one of Real Madrid / Bayern Munich – but it actually makes sense.

City will face one of those two European heavyweights in the Champions League next month after scraping through to the play-off round on Wednesday.

The two European giants know City are struggling but will still have a sense of dread at maybe having to face Pep Guardiola’s men

Bayern Munich still have work to do as they target a top-eight finish in the Champions League. Bayern Munich vs Slovan Bratislava best bets Bayern Munich – 4.5 Asian handicap with bet365

Tottenham Hotspur believe they have a good chance of winning the race to sign Bayern Munich forward Mathys Tel before the transfer deadline.

Brest is next in line as defending champion Paris Saint-Germain tries to stay unbeaten in the French league. PSG leads by 10 points with 15 games to go and remains on course for a yet another Ligue 1 and French Cup double.