The Champions League group stage concluded on Wednesday evening ahead of Monday’s last-16 draw.
The group winners include three English clubs in Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham, with Liverpool also in the hat as runners up
But there were twists elsewhere, with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid crashing out of the competition and Belgian side Club Brugge upsetting the odds to go through.
From the painful eliminations of two of La Liga’s biggest clubs to Lionel Messi’s magic returning with Paris Saint-Germain, we reflect on some of the standout stories of the group stage.
- Champions League group tables
- Champions League state of play
- Last-16 draw: All you need to know
Spain’s pain as Barca, Atletico crash out
Image: Barcelona players show their disappointment after their Champions League exit
“Night of terror,” screamed the front page of Madrid-based sports newspaper AS after Atletico Madrid and Barcelona were sent tumbling out of the Champions League within hours of each other last week.
Trending
- Stormzy launches Merky FC to fight racial inequality in football
- Casemiro: Ten Hag has winning obsession I’ve seen in only few managers
- World Cup 2022 schedule, teams and draw
- Papers: Man Utd revive Bellingham interest | Liverpool ready to go ‘all in’
- Transfer Centre LIVE! Arteta shuts down Barcelona talk and hails Xavi
- CL hits and misses: Chelsea’s Chilwell blow, Alvarez’s Man City statement
- Joshua confident clash with ‘dance partner’ Fury will happen
- Schumacher or Hulk at Haas? The battle for the final 2023 seat
- All you need to know about the Champions League last-16 draw
- Potter: Chilwell a concern for World Cup | Injuries like that ‘never positive’
- Video
- Latest News
Barcelona were first, their fate sealed without them even kicking a ball, Inter Milan’s 4-0 win over Viktoria Plzen in the earlier kick-off ensuring they faced Bayern Munich knowing the Europa League beckoned, subsequently sleepwalking to a 3-0 defeat.
Head coach Xavi later bemoaned decisions which had gone against them in previous games in Group C. “All sorts of things have happened to us in the group stage,” he said. “It has been cruel to us.”
Also See:
But others, including their 19-year-old midfielder Pedri, one of few players to emerge from Barcelona’s miserable group-stage campaign with any credit, said it how it was.
“Of course it’s a failure,” he said after their humbling by Bayern. “Barca have to get out of the group and we haven’t because we didn’t’ deserve it. After seeing what happened today, it is clear that we are not prepared to compete in the Champions League.”
Pedri’s comments reflected the stark reality of just how far the five-time winners have fallen but Europa League football is more than their La Liga rivals Atletico, Champions League finalists in 2014 and 2016, have to look forward to having finishing bottom of Group B.
If Barcelona’s elimination was painful then how about Atleti’s?
Needing a win against Bayer Leverkusen last week, they twice came from behind to make it 2-2, then received a lifeline after the final whistle when a VAR check awarded them a penalty.
With the clock reading 99 minutes at the Wanda Metropolitano, Yannick Carrasco saw his spot kick saved, only to then inadvertently deflect Reinildo’s goalbound shot over the bar after Saul Niguez had headed the rebound against the woodwork.
The astonishing events capped a dismal night for Spanish football. With Sevilla also failing to get out of Group G, a nation which dominated Europe not so long ago is left with Real Madrid as its only knockout-stage representative.
English sides show Premier League might
Image: Manchester City went through as group winners
While their Spanish rivals endured a chastening group stage, the four English sides all progressed, underlining the Premier League’s status as the strongest in Europe, its clubs buoyed by financial might which far outstrips their counterparts on the continent.
Liverpool, runners up last season, looked in some jeopardy after they were humbled 4-1 by Napoli at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium and while that result did end up costing them top spot in Group A, their progress to the last 16 was otherwise serene, achieved with a run of five consecutive wins.
Chelsea’s group-stage campaign followed a similar pattern.
In fact, they sat bottom after not one but two games in Group F, the 1-0 loss to Dinamo Zagreb which proved Thomas Tuchel’s last in charge followed by a draw with RB Salzburg at Stamford Bridge.
Those early struggles were a distant memory in the end, though, a 2-1 victory at home to Dinamo on Wednesday night seeing them through in first place, much like Manchester City, who finished with a five-point cushion on Borussia Dortmund in Group G.
Tottenham were the only side whose situation remained precarious right until the end, but that all changed with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s stunning, stoppage-time winner against Marseille, a goal which lifted them above Eintracht Frankfurt and into the last 16 as Group D winners.
Mignolet helps Brugge make history
Image: Simon Mignolet excelled for Club Brugge during the group stage
“Anyone who predicted this in advance would have been put in the madhouse,” said Club Brugge manager Carl Hoefkens on Tuesday.
The 44-year-old, a former defender who had spells with Stoke City and West Brom during his playing days, had just steered the Belgian champions through the final game of a triumphant group-stage campaign. It said a lot about just how much they had overachieved that it came tinged with regret.
“I told my players that I felt slight disappointment,” he said of finishing as runners-up rather than group winners, a goalless draw with Bayer Leverkusen allowing Porto to jump above them.
“But that quickly gave way to the realisation that we have achieved something very special.”
Brugge were viewed as by far the weakest team in Group B, with Atletico Madrid, Porto and Leverkusen expected to slug it out for the qualification spots, but remarkably they secured their place in the last 16 with two games to spare.
They won their first three without conceding a goal, thrashing Porto 4-0 at the Dragao and overcoming Atletico 2-0 at home, ending up with 11 points and five clean sheets – the joint-most of the group stage along with Bayern Munich – from six fixtures.
Their stellar defensive record owed a lot to former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who made no fewer than 30 saves, the joint-most in the group stage, his outstanding shot-stopping ensuring Brugge conceded six goals fewer than they should have, based on xG.
But their historic success – historic because Brugge had never previously reached the Champions League knockout stage – is not just a story of stellar goalkeeping. This Brugge team can play too. All three of Porto, Atletico and Leverkusen can testify to that.
There is experience in the team, former Fulham and Manchester City defenders Denis Odoi and Dedryck Boyata ensuring Mignolet’s is not the only name familiar to Premier League viewers, but mostly it is made up of exciting youngsters.
In fact, in Raphael Onyedika, Kamal Sowah, Ferran Jutgla, Abakar Sylla, Bjorn Meijer, Tajon Buchanan and Andreas Skov Olsen, they have no fewer than seven starters aged 23 or under.
They are not in the last 16 to make up the numbers.
“We’ll see what comes out of the draw but with those five clean sheets, we have proven that we are stable,” added Hoefkens. “We believe in our quality. We can make it difficult for any team.”
Napoli’s ‘Kvaradona’ the breakout star
Image: Napoli's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia celebrates scoring against Ajax
Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia can add Jurgen Klopp to his growing list of admirers.
“He is really good, the boy,” said the Liverpool boss on Tuesday night. “Really quick. When he has the advantage of the first moment, then he is already gone. He is cheeky, he can go inside, he goes outside, that always makes him difficult. Good player.”
Kvaratskhelia was not widely known before this season. Or, at least, not outside of Russia, where he previously played for Lokomotiv Moscow and Rubin Kazan, or his native Georgia, where, even at only 21 years old, he has long been viewed as a national icon.
But that all changed with his 10 million euro move to Napoli this summer.
His dazzling performances had already taken Napoli top of Serie A. Now he has helped them reach the Champions League knockout stage as Group A winners ahead of Klopp’s Liverpool.
He is the competition’s breakout star, his thrilling talent and anarchic playing style earning him the nickname ‘Kvaradona’, in reference to the man Napoli’s stadium is now named after.
Such comparisons could weigh heavily on a player but not Kvaratskhelia. This is a player who dismantled Liverpool on his very first Champions League appearance, finishing the group stage with two goals and three assists from five games to add to his six goals and five assists in Serie A.
Napoli will inevitably have their work cut out to keep hold of him. But for now, before considering where he may eventually end up, it is best just to enjoy him, and savour the thrill of a player who comes from nowhere to light up the biggest stage.
Messi’s old magic remains
Image: PSG's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against Maccabi Haifa
It seems extraordinary that Lionel Messi is still without a Champions League winners medal since 2015 but could this be the year that changes? After a subdued debut season at Paris Saint-Germain, albeit only by his astronomically high standards, the little Argentine is hitting his stride again.
With four goals and four assists, he finishes the group stage with the second-highest combined total in the competition behind only his team-mate Kylian Mbappe. In Ligue 1, there have been a further seven goals and 10 assists in 12 games.
Messi turns 36 next year. Rumours of a potential move to Inter Miami at the end of the season are circling. But his Champions League performances have helped PSG into the knockout stages again and, with a World Cup also approaching, it feels like the great man is addressing some unfinished business before he goes.
The Champions League has brought PSG nothing but heartache in recent years. A freak swing in goal difference even saw them lose top spot in Group H to Benfica on Wednesday night, despite beating Juventus in Turin in their final game.
But with Messi conjuring up his old magic again, it feels like fate might just be steering his extraordinary career towards a glittering finale.
Juve suffer humiliation
Image: Juventus players show their frustration during a 4-3 loss to Benfica
For Juventus, two-time winners and last-16 qualifiers for the last eight consecutive seasons, during which time they have reached the final twice, the group stage could hardly have gone any worse.
With just three points from their six games in Group H, it is a wonder they have even qualified for the Europa League, spared the ignominy of bowing out of Europe altogether by virtue of their superior – or, more accurately, less terrible – goal difference than Maccabi Haifa.
The biggest humiliation came with their 2-0 defeat to the Israeli champions earlier this month and while they managed to beat them at home, all their other games, against Benfica and Paris Saint-Germain, ended the same way.
Max Allegri has clung to his job, nevertheless, and hopes his players will channel their frustration into their Serie A performances (they are currently seventh) and their upcoming Europa League campaign.
“We should be fired up, angry and get right back to work,” he said after Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to PSG. He is right, of course, but it will take time for the scars of this disastrous Champions League campaign to heal.
Win £250,000 on Tuesday with Super 6!
Correctly predict six scorelines to win £250,000 for free with Super 6 on Tuesday. Entries by 8pm.
Sourse: skysports.com
