Okay, the UEFA Champions League league phase finale takes place on Wednesday, January 28 and everything is pretty much on the line as all 36 teams play at the same time. Get ready for chaos.
MORE — Champions League table
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With every team playing simultaneously in 18 games going on across Europe, this is going to be bonkers. The league table is so tight and this is exactly how UEFA will have wanted things to play out.
Remember: the teams who finish in the top eight of the table will go through to the last 16 automatically. The 16 teams who finish in positions 9-24 in the table will go into a playoff round, with the eight winners of those games then advancing to the last 16. And the teams who finish in positions 25-36, well, they’re out of here and eliminated from European competition altogether.
MORE — Champions League schedule
The stakes are so high and so many teams are going to be pushing hard to win their final group game and then hope for some help to make it to the last 16 automatically or qualify for the playoff round.
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Below we answer your questions regarding who needs what to finish in the top eight and the playoff spots, and which teams are in the hunt to make it to the knockout rounds.
Which teams have already qualified for the Champions League last 16 via a top eight spot?
Arsenal and Bayern Munich are the only two teams who have definitely finished in the top eight and have reached the last 16 of the competition automatically ahead of the final match. The Gunners are guaranteed top spot as long as they get at least a draw at home against bottom side and already-eliminated Kairat on Wednesday.
Which teams can still finish in the top eight of the Champions League?
Real Madrid, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, PSG, Newcastle, Chelsea, Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Inter Milan, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Galatasaray and Qarabag all have a chance of finishing in the top eight with six spots still up for grabs. Although Galatasaray and Qarabag both need to win and hope for a huge swing in goal difference, so that is very unlikely.
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For Real Madrid, Liverpool and Spurs the equation is simple: win your final Champions League game and you are guaranteed a spot in the top eight and therefore an automatic spot in the last 16 and you don’t have to go through the playoff round. A win for Newcastle, Chelsea and Man City could be enough to see them finish in the top eight but it’s not guaranteed as goal difference is so tight between 11 teams all in the hunt. That is when things will start to get wild late in games as teams push to score goals galore. It is that tight.
Which teams are guaranteed at least a playoff spot?
Going into the finale Real Madrid, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, PSG, Newcastle, Chelsea, Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta, Inter Milan and Juventus all know they will at the very least be in the playoff round.
That gives them a little bit of freedom to go all-out to finish in the top eight and secure their passage straight through to the last 16 without having to navigate the playoff round. You know what they say: “Go big, or go to the playoff round” or something like that…
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Which teams can still qualify for the Champions League playoff round?
Borussia Dortmund, Galatasaray, Qarabag, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco, PSV, Athletic Bilbao, Olympiacos, Napoli, Copenhagen, Club Brugge, Bodo/Glimt, Benfica, Pafos, Union Saint-Gilloise and Ajax can all still qualify for the playoff round.
Bodo/Glimt, Benfica, Pafos, Union Saint-Gilloise and Ajax all need to win their final game and hope results go their way. Dortmund can seal their spot in the playoffs with a draw, while Galatasaray, Qarabag, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco all know a win in their final game would secure their spot in the playoff round.
Which teams have been eliminated from the Champions League?
Only four teams have been eliminated from the competition ahead of the group stage finale. They are Eintracht Frankfurt, Slavia Prague, Villarreal and Kairat.
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