The Champions League is entering the decisive phase. High tension is guaranteed, as top teams such as Real Madrid, Manchester City and PSG must tremble for progression. An overview.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The Champions League is back: a number of decisions are expected on the penultimate matchday of the league phase.
- Here is an overview of which teams have already qualified for the knockout phase, which top teams still have to tremble and who has already been eliminated.
- blue Sport broadcasts all UEFA Champions League matches live.
The new Champions League format was initially a thorn in the side of many football fans. But even the biggest critics have to realize one thing: The excitement is maintained - right to the end of the league phase. Whereas in the past, decisions in the groups were often already made after matchday 4, many things are still open on matchday 7. Almost all teams still have something at stake.
As a reminder, the eight best teams after the league phase qualify directly for the round of 16. The teams in places 9 to 24 play in an intermediate round to progress. Ranks 25 to 36 are eliminated.
These teams have already qualified for the knockout round
Two matchdays before the end of the league phase, no team has yet secured a place in the round of 16. However, with 18 points from six games, leaders Liverpool are now virtually out of contention. The runners-up, Barcelona (who play Zeki Amdouni's Benfica on Tuesday), also have a very good chance of progressing directly with 15 points. Liverpool and Barça are actually the only two teams who have at least secured a place in the play-offs.
Behind them, it will be exciting. There are just three points between third and 19th place. While surprise teams such as Stade Brest and Lille are currently in the top 8, top teams such as Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Manchester City are currently in a play-off spot.
These teams have to tremble to progress
While Bayern, with 12 points and a 5-point lead in 25th place, can look upwards, things look anything but rosy for Real and Man City (see table below). The defending champions from Madrid have already lost three times and cannot afford to slip up in their final games against Salzburg and Brest. This also applies to Pep Guardiola's star ensemble, which has a clearly difficult remaining program: City have to play PSG away on Wednesday and face Ardon Jashari's FC Brugge at home on the final matchday.
Speaking of PSG: The Parisians are in 25th place with their backs to the wall and need two wins in their last two games to ensure they still progress. However, that will be anything but easy against Man City and away at Stuttgart.
These teams have already been eliminated
PSG and Stuttgart (each 1 point behind the play-off places) are the only teams from the bottom third of the table who still have a realistic chance of reaching the knockout phase. Three teams still without points have already been eliminated, with only bonuses and points for the UEFA club ranking left to play for. We are talking about RB Leipzig, Slovan Bratislava and BSC Young Boys.
