Champions League
Conference League
Premier League
Published on Jan, 30 2025
The league phase of Champions League has come to a close and Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain avoided disaster by securing their spots in the knockout stage. Buoyed by hat tricks from Morgan Rogers, Lautaro Martinez, and Ousmane Dembele, it was a wild final day featuring many exciting goals across the board. It was a wild day but also one that didn't include as many surprises as it could have, but intriguing action awaits with the knockout stages beginning next month.
Before our rankings only include the 24 remaining, let's take a look at how things shifted at the close of the league phase:
1 Liverpool -- Just too many games in quick succession, Liverpool had to rotate, leading to their first loss in the league phase. They still finished atop the table so it won't matter too much.
2 Barcelona -- If this weren't the league phase, Barcelona may have left their starters out for longer, but a draw against Atalanta is more than fine.
3 Arsenal -- Girona pushed despite being out of UCL, but Arsenal secured their place in the top eight with the second fewest goals conceded in UCL play.secofewestnd
4 Inter -- Lautaro Martinez's first UCL hat trick. It may have come against 10 men, but if he can stay hot, look out.
5 Atletico Madrid -- Facing RB Salzburg, it was clear what was going to happen, but Atletico Madrid made sure it was no contest by halftime.
6 Atalanta -- Unfortunate to fall out of the top eight of Champions League, but Atalanta will still be in a good position avoiding City and PSG in the playoff stage.
7 Bayer Leverkusen -- Florian Wirtz scores, Bayer Leverkusen win. Clockwork.
8 Lille +5 Boy, Lille rolled into the top eight with six goals. Look out, this is a confident side.
9 Bayern Munich -- Only keeping two clean sheets in Champions League play is something that could quickly catch up to Bayern in the knockouts.
10 Paris Saint-Germain +2 If PSG can get this version of Ousmane Dembele weekly, there's no stopping what they can do in this tournament. In a do-or-die match, the Frenchman scored his first-ever Champions League hat trick as PSG cruised into the knockout stage.
11 Aston Villa +3 Morgan Rogers was one of the other hat trick heroes in UCL this week as Villa snuck their way into the top eight.
12 Real Madrid -1 There's a chance that Real Madrid vs. Manchester City could be a knockout stage match. How is that not a semifinal?
13 Monaco -5 After an early red Monaco fell victim to the Inter buzzsaw. Gotta put it in the rearview.
14 Milan -4 Having a chance at the top eight, it was a disappointment for Yunus Musah to receive two yellow cards in eight minutes but Christian Pulisic became the first American to score four goals in a UCL campaign.
15 Borussia Dortmund +3 Gio Reyna's assist wasn't enough to push Dortmund to the top eight but in what has been a poor domestic season, this team is still getting the job done in UCL.
16 PSV +3 Ricardo Pepi netted a goal and an assist in a bumper day for Americans.
17 Brest -1 They gave Real Madrid their all but this has been a debut UCL to remember for Brest, and they could get PSG in an intriguing knockout round.
18 Juventus -3 Thiago Motta's seat has to be getting hot, right? Three draws and a loss in their last five UCL matches, blowing any chance to make the top eight.
19 Manchester City +5 Despite going into the half trailing by a goal, Manchester City managed avoid an absolute disaster in falling out of UCL completely. Savinho helped change the game.
20 Benfica +5 Four goals in his last two Champions League matches for Vangelis Pavlidis and getting past Juventus was critical to keep Benfica alive.
21 Feyenoord -4 Coming in with a chance to make the top eight, Santiago Gimenez got injured and Feyenoord proceeded to concede six goals
22 Celtic -- The reward for a strong league phase is either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid. Oof.
23 Sporting Club Lisbon -- Post Ruben Amorim, this campaign has been nothing short of a underwhelming, going winless in their last four Champions League matches. Sporting did just enough to advance without VIktor Gyokeres.
24 Dinamo Zagreb +2 Defeating Milan wasn't enough for Zagreb, but it was still a strong league phase for the Croatian side.
25 Club Brugge -4 Job done in making the knockout round playoffs for the Belgian side. Club Brugge used to be UCL regulars and they're finally on the road back.
26 Crvena zvezda +2 Securing a win to move up the table will be important for prize money.
27 VfB Stuttgart -7 Too little too late and missing Alexander Nubel led to an absolute thrashing at home.
28 Girona -1 Almost doesn't cut it, but Girona did cause some trouble for Arsenal.
29 Shakhtar Donetsk -- The Ukrainian side did their best to stand up to Dortmund, it just wasn't enough.
30 Bologna -- After losing everything over the summer from their manager to key players, even getting a win in their inaugural Champions League campaign is important.
31 SK Sturm Graz +2 They weren't the worst Austrian side in UCL. 32 RB Leipzig +1 RB Leipzig are fifth in the Bundesliga table but finished 32nd in the league phase. What a disappointment.
33 Sparta Praha -1 Everything fell apart after a strong start, losing five consecutive matches.
34 RB Salzburg -- No one expected this team to hang with Atletico Madrid as RB Salzburg still managed to disappoint.
35 Slovan Bratislava +1 Considering the circumstances, the match was closer than expected but conceding a joint-high 27 goals during the league phase isn't how Slovan expected their UCL debut to go.
36 Young Boys -1 Finishing bottom of the first-ever league phase is history, just not the kind that you want to make.
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