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The UEFA Champions League Group Stage is complete, and for the first time in UCL history, 24 teams are involved in the knockout phase. While the teams that finished 1st through 8th automatically qualified for the round of 16, squads in 9th through 24th will face off in a two-legged knockout phase. Even though most of Europe’s major clubs won’t feature in this phase, a few heavyweights will go toe to toe this week and next.
I’ll cover the best games from today and tomorrow’s slate and provide two Champions League picks.
The Champions League Group Stage had a different format for the first time this season, as all 36 teams were in one group. While there were many critics of this format, it created a very entertaining schedule with plenty of upsets. Liverpool finished atop the group, as Arne Slot’s men went 7-0-1 and only lost in their final game against PSV with a weakened squad. Barcelona, Arsenal and Inter Milan finished in 2nd, 3rd and 4th with 19 points, while Atletico Madrid (18 points), Bayer Leverkusen (16 points), Lille (16 points) and Aston Villa (16 points) rounded out the top 8 spots.
As you can see, there were a few major clubs that didn’t automatically qualify for the round of 16, such as Borussia Dortmund (15 points), Real Madrid (15 points), Bayern Munich (15 points), AC Milan (15 points), Paris Saint Germain (13 points), Juventus (12 points) and Manchester City (11 points) will all be playing in the knockout phase this week. Many major clubs didn’t finish outside the top 24 spots, but Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb (11 points) will be the most hard done, as they missed out on a spot in the knockout phase due to goal differential.
There was a draw on Friday, January 31 to determine who will face off in the knockout phase playoffs. Here are the matchups and schedule for this week:
Tuesday, February 11
Wednesday, February 12
We’re in store for a fantastic slate this week, so let’s dive into my Champions League predictions, which focus on today’s Manchester City vs Real Madrid and tomorrow’s Celtic vs Bayern Munich matchups.
Manchester City didn’t do themselves any favors with their Group State performance, as Pep Guardiola’s side finished in 22nd and needed to defeat Club Brugge on the final matchday to make it to the next phase. However, they were awarded a matchup against the leaders of La Liga, Real Madrid, in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinals, which saw Real Madrid advance. However, it took penalty kicks in the second leg for the Spanish giants to take down the Citizens, and I anticipate another highly contested affair this year.
Although he didn’t find the back of the net in City’s final group stage game, I’m backing Erling Haaland to score in this one. The Norwegian forward didn’t play in the FA Cup this past weekend, so he is fully rested for this match and should continue his hot form. Haaland has found the back of the net in 5 of Man City’s last 6 games in the English Premier League and 6 of City’s last 8 matches. When these teams faced off last year, he failed to find the back of the net, so I think he’ll have extra motivation to score today.
The second match I’m targeting this week features Bayern Munich traveling to Glasgow for a match against Celtic. The German squad currently sits atop the Bundesliga with an 8-point cushion, so it’s safe to say their main focus will be on the Champions League for the foreseeable future. Although the Germans should advance against the Scottish side, I doexpect Wednesday’s fixture to feature plenty of goals. Celtic found the back of the net in 6 of their 8 Group Stage games, as they scored in each of their 4 home matches. However, their defense was quite weak, as the opposition scored 14 goals in 8 games.
One player that I expect to score in Glasgow is Harry Kane. He’s been in fantastic form this season, as the English striker has 6 goals in 7 UCL appearances and 21 goals in 19 Bundesliga appearances. He just scored 2 goals against Werder Bremen this past Friday and has found the back of the net in 4 straight games. Expect Kane to extend that streak to 5 games when he scores in Scotland tomorrow.
Luke Lindholm is an avid basketball, baseball, football, hockey and soccer fan who specializes in writing promotional content for multiple sportsbooks and prediction-based articles across a variety of sports. His work has been featured on prominent websites including Sports Illustrated, Pickswise, Men’s Journal, TheStreet, Athlon Sports and more. He started as a college football handicapper for Pickswise in 2016 and is a current member of the Pickswise NFL handicapping team.