It was a frustrating weekend for several of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finalists as they prepared for this week's second legs. Four sides were held to league draws, although there were useful wins for Chelsea FC, FC Schalke 04, Fenerbahçe SK and AS Roma.

Title challenges
Chelsea's victory at Manchester City FC cut Manchester United FC's lead at the top of the Premier League to just three points as Sir Alex Ferguson's side could only draw at Middlesbrough FC, while Roma kept up the pressure on Serie A leaders FC Internazionale Milano and Fenerbahçe consolidated their place at the head of the Turkish Süper Lig.

It was a good weekend for England's quartet of UEFA Champions League contenders while Fenerbahçe SK claimed an important derby win in Turkey, but the three other quarter-finalists had less to celebrate ahead of this week's first legs.

Mixed bag
Manchester United FC led the way as two goals from Wayne Rooney helped them to a 4-0 victory against Aston Villa FC. Arsenal FC also claimed an impressive triumph but for different reasons. A man down and trailing 2-0 with 30 minutes to play against Bolton Wanderers FC, they recovered in memorable fashion, stealing the points in added time.

Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC left less to chance as early goals proved sufficient for them, the latter in the Merseyside derby, and Fenerbahçe also savoured cross-town success. AS Roma and FC Schalke 04 were both held, while the German side's opponents on Tuesday, FC Barcelona suffered the opposite fate to Arsenal, losing after squandering a 2-0 lead in Spain.

European pretenders keep midweek focus
It was a mixed weekend for UEFA Champions League contenders in their domestic leagues across Europe with many clubs opting to rest players ahead of this week's first knockout round second legs.

Mixed bag
Both Real Madrid CF and AS Roma won ahead of their meeting in the Spanish capital on Wednesday with the tie delicately balanced at 2-1 in favour of the Serie A side. However, Madrid's main rivals for the Primera División title, FC Barcelona, lost 4-2 at Club Atlético de Madrid.

Elsewhere, there were good away wins for Chelsea FC, Manchester United FC and Olympique Lyonnais, but both Arsenal FC and AC Milan could only manage 1-1 draws at home – a result that if repeated on Tuesday, would put the English side through to the quarter-finals. FC Internazionale Milano and Liverpool FC do not play their second leg until Tuesday 11 March.

The 16 teams competing in the UEFA Champions League first knockout round have been tweaking their squads ahead of the first leg of their last 16-ties later this month – with AC Milan new boy Pato perhaps the most eye-catching of the 45 players who have been registered.

Alexandre Pato - AC Milan
Pato has played 6 games since his January debut, scoring 4 goals. He injured his ankle at the beginning of February but is rumoured to be ready to return in time for the Arsenal clash.

Michael Ballack - Chelsea FC
Ballack was not included in the Chelsea squad for the group stages due to injury, but he's back and on form, with 3 goals and 1 assist since his return.

See the full list of new registrations on uefa.com

Which players have caught your eye for the knock-out stages?

Between the end of the group stages and the beginning of the knock-out stages (Round of 16), unlimited transfers can be made without penalty.

You have until the 19th February, 20:30 CET to make your unlimited transfers. Once the knock-out stages start, there will be no more unlimited free transfers available.

You will still be able to make ONE free transfer in each of the transfer periods listed in the rules, but any additional transfers made in the same period will deduct 2 points from your total.

The number of players that you can select from a single team is increased to 3 for the Round of 16.

Your budget has also increased to 110 million euros, and player values will no longer increase/decrease.

With AC Milan competing in the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan between 7 and 16 December, Group D of the UEFA Champions League concludes early with the European champions having the least to play for. More »

The remaining 14 Matchday 6 ties – in UEFA Champions League Groups A, B, C, E, F, G and H – will be played on 11/12 December.

Early Deadline
Because of the Group D fixtures, Matchday 6 has a deadline of 4th December 20:30 CET, even though the majority of fixtures take place a week later, on the 11th and 12th December.

All changes and transfers for Matchday 6 must be made in time for the 4th December deadline. Transfers can not be made once the deadline has passed.

We suggest making sure your squad contains 15 likely starters so you can make Manager Substitutions after the games on the 4th of December and between the games on the 11th and 12th December.

Sevilla FC, Valencia CF and Manchester United FC were the only losers among the 30 UEFA Champions League contenders in league action this weekend ahead of this week's Matchday 5 fixtures.

Benfica impress
With the league campaigns in Russia and Norway now over, both PFC CSKA Moskva and Rosenborg BK now have no competitive fixtures outside Europe's top club competition. Meanwhile, a win for SL Benfica saw them take their unbeaten run in the Portuguese Liga into its second year. uefa.com rounds up the reaction from all of the clubs involved on Matchday 5. More »

Which Champions League player caught your eye this weekend?

Only 17 of the 32 UEFA Champions League group stage contenders in action at the weekend tasted victory with many of the teams struggling in their last domestic games before Matchday 4.

Beaten sides
Beşiktaş JK, FC Schalke 04, Real Madrid CF, S.S. Lazio, FC Dynamo Kyiv, PSV Eindhoven and FC Steaua Bucureşti were all beaten in league games and will be hoping for improvements on Tuesday and Wednesday. More »

You can also review the UEFA Champions League teams games on the Domestic Form page.

Who's your tip for Matchday 4?

Matchday 4 kicks off at 20:30 CET on 6 Nov. If you need to make some changes to your team without losing points, you should take advantage of the upcoming transfer periods:

There were derby victories for Liverpool FC and Rangers FC as uefa.com rounds up the reaction from the UEFA Champions League contenders' weekend games. More »

You can also review the UEFA Champions League teams games on the Domestic Form page.

Who's your tip for Matchday 3?