Champions League: the home straight

It’s time for the last league phase matchday. Who will be in the top 8 and who’s journey will come to an end?

The race to the top 8

The 8 best teams directly qualify for the round of 16. This is an advantageous place to be because as well as one less match, these teams will also have the benefit of playing the second leg matches of the knockout stage at home.

Ending in the top 8 is a goal every team hoping of lifting Old Big Ears should be aiming for. As it stands, only Arsenal (21 points) and Bayern Munich (18 points) are sure of a spot in the top 8. Behind them, 11 teams are still in with a chance of getting the last 6 places.

First of all, Real Madrid and Liverpool, with 15 points each, are almost sure to be one of the 8 teams that directly qualify. It would need some sort of catastrophic event for these teams to let it slip now. This Wednesday, Real will go to Benfica while Liverpool will welcome Qarabag. The Merengues and the Reds only need a single point to solidify their qualification.

Next is Tottenham who have a decent chance at the top 8 with 14 points and a match against Frankfurt. Then, 8 teams are neck and neck with 13 points for the 3 remaining qualification spots. In the order of the standings, we have PSG, Newcastle, Chelsea, Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Manchester City, Atlético Madrid and Atalanta. The results of this final matchday will therefore be crucial.

Here are the decisive matches for these teams:

·      Athletic Bilbao vs Sporting Lisbon

·      FC Barcelona vs Copenhagen

·      Paris SG vs Newcastle

·      Napoli vs Chelsea

·      Atlético Madrid vs Bodo/Glimt

·      Manchester City vs Galatasaray

·      Union SG vs Atalanta

The battle for the knockout stage

For the other teams, the goal is to land between 9th and 24th place. These teams will need to battle in an extra knockout stage to qualify and face the 8 teams who have already qualified for the round of 16.

As well as all of the teams already mentioned in the race for the top 8 (who, even if they finish outside the top 8 places, are already mathematically qualified for the playoffs), other teams are already guaranteed to compete in the playoffs: Inter, Juventus, Dortmund, Galatasaray and Qarabag.

Marseille, Leverkusen and Monaco have 9 points and would need to lose and the 5 teams just behind them to win their last matches in order to not qualify, an unlikely scenario that would see these 3 teams also compete in the playoffs.

Therefore, there’s only 3 places left to play for. 5 teams have 8 points and are therefore the favorites for these positions. In order, we have PSV, Bilbao and Olympiakos (provisionally qualified) as well as Napoli and Copenhagen (just behind in the standings).

Finally, Club Brugge (7 points) and Union Saint-Gilloise (6 points) are still mathematically in the running, even if they’d need a huge win and a faux pas from one of the better ranked teams.

Here are the decisive matches for the last places in the knockout stage:

·      PSV vs Bayern Munich

·      Athletic Bilbao vs Sporting Lisbon

·      Ajax vs Olympiakos

·      Napoli vs Chelsea

·      FC Barcelone vs Copenhagen

·      Club Brugge vs Marseille

·      Union SG vs Atalanta

Bet on the final matchday of the Champions League

For this last matchday, the 100 best bettors on Circus Sport will share the sum of €2,000. The bigger your winnings on C1, the bigger your share of the prize pool.