As of Matchday 5, 11 teams have booked their places in the last 16 of the Champions League as places in the last 16 are dwindling. Some of them are familiar faces, while others are a little unexpected. Porto, LiverpoolBayern Munich, Real Madrid, Club Brugge, NaplesChelsea, Borussia Dortmund, PSG, Benficaand City of Manchester have booked their places, but what do other teams have to do to join them on Matchday 6?
First, let’s look at tiebreakers if a team gets level on points. Things are a little different than in general league play. The first tiebreaker is points in head-to-head games between tied teams. If the tied teams are still equal on points in the head-to-head games, then the head-to-head games will go down to goal difference. Finally, the team with the most goals would win. An example is what we have seen Barcelona and Milan Inter. Inter beat Barca 1-0 at home and then drew 3-3 away to give the Italian club four points from both sides while Barca drew just one. That means if they get the points, Inter will go through.
If several teams are tied after overcoming all previous tiebreakers, then the goal difference in all group games is taken into account. This is followed by goals scored in all group stage matches, away goals in all group matches, wins in all group matches and then away wins in all group matches. If it still fails, we get to the disciplinary points of each team and the UEFA club coefficient.
So, let’s see who can make it out of each group
Group A
- Napoli (15 points): group winners.
- Liverpool (12 points): Qualified for knockouts.
- Ajax (three points): Can qualify for the Europa League with a win or a draw against Rangers.
- Rangers (zero points): Can qualify for the Europa League by winning by more than four goals against Ajax. If Rangers beat Ajax 4-0, Ajax will score eight goals (Rangers have scored one, so a 4-0 win would make it five).
Group B
- Club Brugge (10 points): Qualified for knockouts. Can win the group with a win against Bayer Leverkusen or the loss of Porto.
- Porto (nine points): Qualified for knockouts. Can win the group with a win against Atletico Madrid and draw or lose with Brugge or Brugge lose and draw against Atletico Madrid by scoring more goals than Brugge.
- Atletico Madrid (five points): Can qualify for the Europa League by improving Bayer Leverkusen’s result.
- Bayer Leverkusen (five points): Can qualify for the Europa League by bettering or matching Atletico Madrid’s record due to each other’s better record.
Group C
- Bayern Munich (15 points): group winners.
- Inter Milan (10 points): Qualified for the playoffs as the second place team.
- Barcelona (four points): Qualified for the Europa League.
- Victoria Pilsen (zero points): Outside of European competition.
Group D
- Tottenham (eight points): In the next round with a win or a draw. If they lose, they will be relegated from the UCL but could still qualify for the Europa League.
- Sport KP (seven points): They will qualify for the next round with a win against Eintracht. A draw would also be enough as long as Marseille does not beat Tottenham.
- Eintracht Frankfurt (seven points): Can still win the group but they need to win to qualify for the round of 16. Can qualify for the Europa League with a Marseille loss.
- Marseille (six points): If they win, they advance to the round of 16. They have to beat Tottenham.
Group E
- Chelsea (10 points): Group E winners thanks to the best overall record AC Milan.
- AC Milan (seven points): Can qualify for playoffs on Gameday 6 with a win or tie against RB Salzburg. Already qualified at least for participation in the Europa League.
- RB Salzburg (six points): Can qualify for the knockout stages with a win over AC Milan. A place in the European League will be won with a draw or a Dinamo Zagreb loss.
- Dinamo Zagreb (four points): Eliminated from playoff contention. Can at least qualify for the Europa League with a win over Chelsea and a loss to RB Salzburg.
Group F
- Real Madrid (10 points): Qualified for knockouts. Can win the group with a win celtic or loss with RB Leipzig.
- RB Leipzig (nine points): Can qualify for the knockout stage with a win or draw against Shakhtar. Qualified at least for a place in the Europa League.
- Shakhtar Donetsk (six points): Can qualify for the knockout stage with a win over RB Leipzig. Won at least a place in the European League.
- Celtic (two points): Excluded from qualifying play-offs or Europa League.
Group G
- Manchester City (11 points): Group G winners thanks to the fight against Dortmund.
- Borussia Dortmund (eight points): Second place in Group G thanks to head-to-head Seville.
- Sevilla (five points): Qualified for the Europa League thanks to a head-to-head win over Copenhagen.
- Copenhagen (two points): Eliminated from the fight for the play-offs and the Europa League.
Group H
- PSG (eight points): Qualified for playoffs. Can win the group by improving Benfica’s result. If both teams score the same number of points, it will come down to the third goal scored in a Champions League match. PSG have scored 14 goals so far.
- Benfica (eight points): Qualified for playoffs. Can win the group by improving PSG’s result. If both teams score the same number of points, it will be the third goal scored in a Champions League game. Benfica have now scored 10 goals.
- Juventus (three points): Cannot qualify for playoffs. Can qualify for the Europa League by improving Maccabi Haifa’s the result. If both teams score the same number of points, it will come down to the third goal scored in a Champions League game. Juventus scored eight goals.
- Maccabi Haifa (three points): Cannot qualify for playoffs. Can qualify for the Europa League by improving Juventus’ result. If both teams score the same number of points, it will come down to the third goal scored in a Champions League game. Haifa “Maccabi” scored six goals.
