The UEFA Champions League’s group stage has ended with 16 teams qualifying for the next round. The top two teams from each group (8 groups) go onto the ‘Round-of-16’ stage while the third-placed teams head over to the second-tier, UEFA Europa League.
Group A
English giants Manchester United finished at the bottom of the table, although pre-tournament, the audience believed that they were favorites to finish top in this group.
Bayern Munich and FC København finish 1st and 2nd while Turkish Galatasaray move onto the Europa League.
Group B
Arsenal and PSV Eindhoven come 1st and 2nd as French club, Lens, qualifies for the Europa League.
The biggest shocker from this group is Seville finishing at the bottom. Seville is a strong Spanish side that always gives tough times to difficult opponents, but even with the marquee signing of Sergio Ramos, they couldn’t perform in the group stages.
Seville missed out on the Europa League as well, which is considered their home base, as they have won 5 Europa titles in the last 9 years.
Group C
As expected, Real Madrid and Napoli qualify from this group, with Braga qualifying for the Europa League and Union Berlin bowing out. Madrid won their last group-stage match 3-2, while Napoli beat Braga 2-0.
Group D
In a tough group, with equally-skilled teams, Real Sociedad and Inter came out on top while Portugal’s Benfica and Red Bull-sponsored Austrian side, Salzburg, finished bottom two.
Sociedad and Inter gave each other tough competition, as both finished level on 12 points, with Sociedad ending 1st due to a superior goal difference. The two clashed in Inter’s home in the last group-stage match, but it ended level on 0-0.
Group E
Spanish title-challenging side Atletico Madrid and Italy’s Lazio came out at the top of this group. Turkish Feyenoord edged past Ireland’s Celtic to qualify for the Europa League, although the Irish side defeated them 2-1 in yesterday’s last group-stage match in Celtic Park, Glasgow.
Group F
Group F, or this season’s ‘Group of Death’ ended with Borussia Dortmund and PSG progressing to the next stage. AC Milan came 3rd, which made them qualify for the ongoing Europa League, while Newcastle ended at the bottom.
PSG and AC Milan remained level on 8 points, but PSG qualified due to a superior goal difference.
Before the start of the last match, Milan and Newcastle were level on 5 points, with Newcastle hosting the Italian side.
The Italian side showed no remorse and won the match 2-1, with goals from Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze.
Group G
English treble winners Manchester City dominated this group as they won all six of their matches. City manager, Pep Guardiola, became the 2nd manager, after Jurgen Klopp, to make an English side win all six of their UCL group-stage matches.
Red Bull-sponsored Leipzig came 2nd, thus qualifying for the next round. Young Boys finished third to join the Europa League.
Group H
Spanish giants Barcelona and Portugal’s FC Porto went ahead from this group, while Shakhtar Donetsk finished third to become a part of the Europa League.
What’s to Come?
A draw will happen which will determine the winner of a particular group playing the second-placed team of the other group.
The 2023/24 UEFA Champions League round of 16 draw will be held at 4:00 PM (Pakistan Time) on Monday 18 December 2023 at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.
While there’s been an update given regarding the upcoming season of the UCL.
🚨 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: The Champions League group-stage has come to an end.
From next season onwards, the format of the Champions League completely changes. pic.twitter.com/R780h42XtY
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) December 13, 2023
