UEFA Club Competitions Recap: 29-30 January

This week’s UEFA Champions League and Europa League action brought us clarity on who advanced into the next round and who got knocked out of the competition. Despite winning their final games, Dinamo Zagreb, Red Star, and Sturm Graz were all eliminated from the Champions League, and Manchester City managed to secure its place in the playoffs.

Here’s the recap of the final round of the Champions League and Europa League group stage.

Champions League Recap: Man City Manages to Escape Elimination

Even though there were 18 games in total this past Wednesday, all eyes were on Man City and Guardiola’s team’s match against Club Brugge. And despite trailing by 1-0 at half-time, City started the second half-time strong and ended up securing a 3-1 win to qualify for the knockout phase playoffs.

Most teams that qualified directly for the knockout phase scored victories in the final round, except for Barcelona, which finished second despite the draw 2-2 with Atalanta, and Liverpool, which lost 3-2 to PSV Eindhoven.

Instead of all the results, here’s the table at the end of the group stage:

1. Liverpool
2. Barcelona
3. Arsenal
4. Internazionale
5. Atlético Madrid
6. Bayer Leverkusen
7. Lille
8. Aston Villa
9. Atalanta
10. Borussia Dortmund
11. Real Madrid
12. Bayern Munich
13. AC Milan
14. PSV Eindhoven
15. Paris Saint-Germain
16. Benfica
17. AS Monaco
18. Brest
19. Feyenoord Rotterdam
20. Juventus
21. Celtic
22. Manchester City
23. Sporting CP
24. Club Brugge
25. Dinamo Zagreb
26. VfB Stuttgart
27. Shakhtar Donetsk
28. Bologna
29. Red Star Belgrade
30. SK Sturm Graz
31. Sparta Prague
32. RB Leipzig
33. Girona
34. RB Salzburg
35. Slovan Bratislava
36. Young Boys

UEFA Europa League Recap: Crowded for the Final Spots in the Playoffs

Fourteen points were enough for Glasgow Rangers to qualify directly for the knockout phase but not for Bodø/Glimt, Andrlecht and FCSB, which landed in the ninth, tenth and eleventh position at the end of the group phase. Lazio won the group stage despite the defeat 1-0 from Braga.

Athletic Club, Man United and Tottenham all won their respective matches on Thursday to confirm their spots in the knockout stage. Eintracht Frankfurt also secured its spot despite losing 2-0 to Roma, and so did Lyon despite playing 1-1 with Ludogorets. 

Olympiacos and the aforementioned Rangers took the final two spots in the knockouts. Here’s the table after the group stage:

1. Lazio
2. Athletic Club
3. Manchester United
4. Tottenham Hotspur
5. Eintracht Frankfurt
6. Lyon
7. Olympiacos
8. Rangers
9. Bodo/Glimt
10. Anderlecht
11. FCSB
12. Ajax Amsterdam
13. Real Sociedad
14. Galatasaray
15. AS Roma
16. Viktoria Plzen
17. Ferencvaros
18. FC Porto
19. AZ Alkmaar
20. FC Midtjylland
21. Union St.-Gilloise
22. PAOK Salonika
23. FC Twente
24. Fenerbahce
25. Braga
26. IF Elfsborg
27. TSG Hoffenheim
28. Besiktas
29. Maccabi Tel-Aviv
30. Slavia Prague
31. Malmö FF
32. Rigas Futbola Skola
33. Ludogorets Razgrad
34. Dynamo Kyiv
35. Nice
36. FK Qarabag

The draw for the playoffs was on Friday, 31 January, and you will be able to read more about it in our separate news.