We have passed the midway point of the opening stages of the UEFA champions league group stages, and we continue our look into the current group standings.

The blue side of London found it the more fortunate of the English premier league teams when it came to the draw for the groups. Chelsea FC found themselves drawn up against the Swiss giants FC Basel, Steau Bucharest, and the German side Schalke in group E. Chelsea currently are on top of the group with nine points and only having one blemish to their european campaign having being defeated at home in London to FC Basel. Both Schalke and Basel have their fates in their hands. Basel will be entertaining Chelsea in the next upcoming fixture and if they can pull a result against the English giants the pressure will be building in-group E. As Schalke will travel to Romania to play against Steau Bucharest, the fates of Schalke, Basel and Chelsea all lie on their performance in the next fixture. Each of their performance and the performance of the other in the opposite fixture will determine who will advance and will not.

At the start of the premier league season, not many thought that Arsenal would contend in the domestic league and none thought they had a chance in the Champions League after seeing the draw they received. The gunners had the pleasure of drawing former French giants Olympique Marseille, last year’s champions league finalist Borussia Dortmund, and the Napoli the resurgent former Italian giants. The gunners who are enjoying a bright run of form in the premier league are in command of group F with nine points. Napoli sits in second even with Arsenal on points, but behind the gunners by goal difference. Borussia Dortmund last campaign's runners up to Bayern Munich sit in third place in the group after their defeat to Arsenal in Germany during the week. Dortmund who sit in third with six points need to win their next fixture when they entertain Napoli. As for Marseille for haven't picked up a single point in-group F can benefit from an early exit from the Champions League. Marseille are currently perched in fifth place in Ligue 1, with the likes of PSG and now Monaco contending for the french title there still leaves the third place play-off spot for Ligue 1. Which would be wiser to achieve especially under the current circumstances there is in France with Ligue 1.

As we progress to group G, we see a different scenario unfold. Atletico Madrid who many pundits and critics anticipated to struggle in-group G, have been thriving and looking sharp as can be. Los Colchoneros have taken four wins in four and have booked their places into the next round of the champions league. Many have questioned the spirit, the intelligence and guile of Diego Simeone's side coming into this season's campaign. In fact Simeone has this once flat side firing on all cylinders but he has them playing with intelligence and confidence. In the upcoming round of 16 Atleti will find themselves to be feared by a fair amount of the other European giants. The opposition many thought would prove to be a challenge to the Rojiblancos now fights for their european lives. Zenit St Petersburg who are aloft in second with five points will entertain Atletico Madrid and will be hopeful that Simeone will field a younger team, and Zenit should be able to take advantage of the situation if Diego were to field a weaker squad. A little further down the table for group G is the Portuguese champions FC Porto. Porto finds themselves sounding the european alarms as they entertain the minnows of the group Austria Wien. Porto need to win their remaining fixtures if they want to keep their european dreams alive, or much like a dream it will disappear from their minds as soon as they wake up.

Finally we come down to group H, which hosts the entertaining Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, and Celtic. The headline from this group really isn’t as much about the dominant Barcelona and the likes of their new signing Neymar and how he will adapt to European football compared to Brazilian. But as many pundits predicted, Barcelona sit a top of the group already qualified for the next round comfortably. The second place spot like all the other groups’ up for grabs, and Ajax and AC Milan look to secure that final spot out of the group stages. Milan travel to Glasgow Scotland to face Celtic, who last year were the upset kings. Defeating Barcelona and taking second place in their group last campaign Celtic turned many heads when talking about the Scottish outfit last season. This time around though, they won't be twisting anyone necks for a view; many have set their sights to Milan with the return of Kaka to the rossoneri. Milan are second in the group with five points, behind them is Ajax with four and Celtic with just one point in four games. If Milan can walk away from scotland with a victory in their next fixture and Barcelona getting a result, the Rossoneri should take the final qualifying spot into the next round of the champions league.