ByMichael EmonsBBC Sport journalist<\/p>\n
The Champions League returns this week and some of Europe's biggest names will be back in action earlier than they would have hoped.<\/p>\n
From September to January, 36 teams each played eight different opponents with the top eight leaping into the last 16, while the bottom 12 have been eliminated.<\/p>\n
Those that finished between ninth and 24th now have a two-legged knockout play-off to navigate with the eight winners advancing to the last 16.<\/p>\n
Reigning European champions Paris St-Germain are among those returning, so too Inter Milan, the team they beat in the 2025 final.<\/a><\/p>\n Fifteen-time European winners Real Madrid also finished outside the top eight, as did other previous champions in Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and Benfica.<\/p>\n No side qualified for the play-offs in more dramatic style than Jose Mourinho's Benfica, who were seconds away from elimination before goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored<\/a> in the eighth minute of stoppage time to send them through.<\/p>\n That came in a 4-2 victory against Real Madrid, and Alvaro Arbeloa's team have an instant chance for revenge as the two sides meet each other in the play-offs.<\/p>\n Five of the six English entrants ended in the top eight – Arsenal came first with eight wins from eight games, while Liverpool were third, Tottenham fourth, Chelsea sixth and Manchester City eighth.<\/p>\n That means the only English representation in the Champions League over the next two weeks will be Newcastle United, who will fancy their chances of defeating Azerbaijani club Qarabag, a side thrashed 6-0 by Liverpool in January.<\/p>\n So if you finish outside the top eight and have to face another two matches, does that wreck your chances of Champions League glory?<\/p>\n As PSG spectacularly proved last season, it certainly does not.<\/p>\n In 2024-25, Luis Enrique's side were facing Champions League elimination when 2-0 down at home to Manchester City on matchday seven of the league phase.<\/p>\n But PSG won 4-2 and then defeated Stuttgart 4-1 in another must-win tie to finish 15th in the league. They then crushed fellow Ligue 1 side Brest 10-0 on aggregate in the knockout play-offs, defeated Liverpool on penalties in the last 16, got past Aston Villa and Arsenal in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively before thrashing Inter 5-0 in the final.<\/p>\n PSG face Monaco in this season's play-offs with Luis Enrique unconcerned by the extra matches, saying his side can win back-to-back Champions League trophies.<\/p>\n "If any team is ready for the play-offs, it is us," he said.<\/p>\n "We knew it was a possibility that we might have to go into the play-offs. We will have to take the long route, but I don't think anyone else can be considered favourites more than us."<\/p>\n The other European club competitions also adopted similar formats last season, with Real Betis reaching the Conference League final, losing 4-1 to Chelsea<\/a>, despite coming 15th in the league phase.<\/p>\n However, it was not the same in the Europa League.<\/p>\n Seven of the top eight reached the quarter-finals with fourth-placed Tottenham beating third-placed Manchester United<\/a> in the final.<\/p>\n Despite having two extra matches, football data specialists Opta rate PSG's chances of winning the Champions League higher than top-eight finishers Tottenham and Sporting.<\/p>\n Newcastle and Inter Milan are rated as having a 3% chance of lifting the trophy, the same as Spurs.<\/p>\n Following a perfect league phase, table-toppers Arsenal are judged to have a 30% chance of becoming European champions for the first time.<\/p>\n However, they will be wary of what happened to Liverpool last season after Arne Slot's side finished top of the league, only to then run into PSG at the last-16 phase and be eliminated.<\/p>\n Bayern Munich, who cannot meet Arsenal until the final, are given a 14% chance, followed by both Manchester City and Liverpool on 10%, then Chelsea and Barcelona on 7%.<\/p>\n The common theme among the English sides that qualified for the last 16 was the relief at having two fewer games to play.<\/p>\n Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, whose side were eliminated by Real Madrid in the knockout play-offs 12 months ago, said: "We're really pleased to not play one knockout stage. Hopefully we can arrive in March at our best.<\/p>\n "We are really pleased to finish top eight, considering how [tough] the Champions League has become. When I started 16 or 17 years ago, the Champions League was a different type of competition than today. Every team is really, really, really, really, really tough."<\/p>\n Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, reflecting on his side's perfect league phase, added: "We are in the position we wanted to be. We won eight games out of eight which is so difficult to do, so credit to the boys. <\/p>\n "We close this chapter now and can focus on other competitions."<\/p>\n Liverpool manager Arne Slot said: "You want to finish top eight because that helps because you skip a round, so we're happy we are going straight to the last 16."<\/p>\n Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior called it "massive" to reach the last 16, adding: "It is huge for us to be able to be able to work with the players on the training ground. I can run them and get them fitter."<\/p>\n Even though Newcastle have to take part in the play-offs, Opta give Eddie Howe's side an 88.5% chance of beating Qarabag and making the last 16.<\/p>\n Asked if he would have settled for a play-off at the start of the competition in September, Howe said: "I probably would have done. We didn't set out with that intention, we set out to try to qualify outright, but you take every eventuality that falls your way.<\/p>\n "We gave everything we could to try to finish in the top eight – we didn't quite get there, so we have to go another route. We are pleased to still be in the competition and still be fighting."<\/p>\n Newcastle defender Dan Burn put a positive spin on the extra games, saying: "We wanted to miss the play-offs but we're looking forward to it.<\/p>\n "This is the first time Newcastle are getting to the [Champions League] knockouts in its history so we are very proud."<\/p>\n Monaco v Paris St-Germain (winners to play Barcelona or Chelsea)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Galatasaray v Juventus (winners to play Liverpool or Tottenham)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Benfica v Real Madrid (winners to play Sporting or Manchester City)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Borussia Dortmund v Atalanta (winners to play Arsenal or Bayern Munich)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Qarabag v Newcastle (winners to play Barcelona or Chelsea)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Club Brugge v Atletico Madrid (winners to play Liverpool or Tottenham)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Bodo\/Glimt v Inter Milan (winners to play Sporting or Manchester City)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Olympiacos v Bayer Leverkusen (winners to play Arsenal or Bayern Munich)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Teams listed first will be at home in the first legs on 17-18 February with the second legs on 24-25 February.<\/p>\n Latest Champions League table<\/p>\n <\/a><\/li>\n Champions League scores & fixtures<\/p>\n <\/a><\/li>\n Follow the latest Champions League news<\/p>\n <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Listen to the latest Football Daily podcast<\/p>\n <\/a><\/li>\n Get football news sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Watch highlights of every Champions League game from 22:00 on Wednesday on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.<\/p>\n There will also be a Champions League Match of the Day on BBC One on Wednesday, from 22:40 to 00:00.<\/p>\n Is facing a Champions League play-off really that bad?Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Twenty-four sides still have dreams of lifting the Champions League trophy this seasonByMichael EmonsBBC…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}PSG have to take the long route to glory again<\/h2>\n
Valuable rest for five of the six English teams<\/h2>\n
Champions League knockout play-offs<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Related topics<\/h2>\n
\n