The first ever Phase League in the new Champions League format that UEFA has debuted this season is about to end. On Wednesday, January 22, all games from Matchday 7 have been played, and teams now have a pretty good idea where they will land when the League ends this time next week.
As you probably know, 36 teams participate. The top 8 get direct qualification for the round of 16, as usual, and teams between 9 and 24 move to a new "knock-out" phase, a two-legged playoff. Teams 25 or below are eliminated (no "Europa League safety net" this time). And Pep Guardiola knows it very well, with Manchester City currently out of the competition at 25th after losing to PSG...
So far, only two teams are confirmed for the round of 16: Liverpool and Barcelona. Meanwhile, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Atalanta, Atleti, Bayern, Brest, Celtic, Dortmund, Feyenoord, Inter, Juventus, Leverkusen, Lille, Milan, Monaco and Real Madrid are also confirmed for either the round of 16 or the knockout phase.
Many teams are still unconfirmed for at least the knockout phase, and that include big names like Bayern Munich, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid. PSG, after beating Manchester City, is narrowly safe from elimination for now...
Champions League table after Matchday 7
After seven games, with only one remaining, this is how the Champions League table looks like:
- Liverpool
- Barcelona
- Arsenal
- Inter Milan
- Atletico Madrid
- AC Milan
- Atalanta
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Aston Villa
- Monaco
- Feyenoord
- Lille
- Brest
- Borussia Dortmund
- Bayern Munich
- Real Madrid
- Juventus
- Celtic
- PSV Eindhoven
- Club Brugge
- Benfica
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Sporting Lisbon
- Stuttgart
- Manchester City
- Dinamo Zagreb
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Bologna
- Sparta Prague
- RB Leipzig
- Girona
- Crvena Zvezda
- Sturm Graz
- Red Bull Salzburg
- SK Slovan Bratislava
- Young Boys
Sadly, we now know nine teams that are mathematically eliminated: Bologna, Crvena Zvezda, Girona, Leipzig, Salzburg, Slovan Bratislava, Sparta Praha, Sturm Graz, Young Boys. The rest will have to wait until Wednesday January 29 to know their fate...
