So the group stage of the main European Cup has ended, and on November 7, the draw for the 1/8 finals will take place. Let’s go through all the groups and find out who made it to the playoffs, who dropped into the Europa League, and who was left without European cups.
Group A
Teams: Napoli, Liverpool, Ajax, Rangers.
The group’s favorite was initially Liverpool, and the fight for 2nd place was to be held between Ajax and Napoli. In fact, Luciano Spalletti and company were ahead of Jurgen Klopp’s team. After 6 rounds, both teams had 15 points each, but Napoli defeated Liverpool 4-1 in a head-to-head meeting. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia certainly became the main character of the Neapolitan team. What is his performance worth in that very game against the Merseysiders?
Ajax, taking 3rd place, went to the Europa League. The Amsterdam team confidently beat the Rangers in both meetings, but they disappointed against Napoli, losing with a total score of 10:3.
Well, the Rangers are the primary failure of the group. 0 points, 2 goals scored and 22 conceded.
Group B
Perhaps this is one of the 2 groups that gave us the most surprises. Here were Atlético Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Brugge and Porto.
The group’s favorite was obviously Atlético, while Brugge was the main outsider. In fact, these 2 teams have switched roles. Brugge did not lose to Atlético, exchanged victories with Porto, and bypassed Bayer. 11 points after 6 games. The best in this group was Porto with 12 points. And Atlético and Bayer, who were considered favorites, scored 5 points in 6 games. A ticket to the Europa League went to the German team.
Group C
Bayern were the main contenders for 1st place in Group C and fully justified their status with 6 wins in a row. Inter secured 2nd place, ahead of Barca by 3 points. The Milanese got a minimal victory over Barca at home and played a draw away. That was enough to get out of the group.
Barcelona failed to qualify from the group for the 2nd year in a row. Barça lost twice to Bayern and never beat Inter.
Group D
This is how it looked in Group D until the last round. This group was the most equal this season. In the previous round, the teams changed their places in the table 18 times: 6 times Tottenham, 4 times each Eintracht, Sporting, and Marseille.
As a result, Tottenham left the first place, and 2 went to Eintracht. Sporting went to the Europa League with 7 points.
Groups E, F, and G
Group E includes Chelsea, Milan, Salzburg, and Dinamo Zagreb. The favorites were known from the start and in this group, everything went without surprises. Chelsea finished 1st, Milan 2nd, and Salzburg qualified for the Europa League.
More was expected from Milan in the games against Chelsea. In fact, the Londoners easily defeated them in both matches, with a total score of 5:0. Nevertheless, Stefano Pioli’s team fulfilled their plan. AC Milan is out of the Champions League group for the first time in a long time.
Madrid and Leipzig left Group F. The Bulls were pleasantly surprised by the victory over Real Madrid in the 5th round, but they lacked 1 point for first place. Madrid has won every other match. Shakhtar started with a solid win over RB and earned 1 point with Real Madrid, but 2 draws with Celtic kept them out of the group.
Well, group G, where Manchester City became the best, followed by Borussia Dortmund. Disappointingly, Sevilla, which performed poorly in both games against Man City, was crushed by Borussia and lost points with Copenhagen. Thus, among the teams in La Liga, only Real Madrid left the group.
Group H
Well, the last group, probably surprised me the most with its result. Benfica finished first in the group with PSG, Juventus, and Maccabi. They had 14 points each with PSG, and the away goals figure played a decisive role. I was also surprised by how Juventus performed. It seemed that only PSG would be worthy competition for them. However, Allegri’s team couldn’t even cope with Maccabi and Benfica and were knocked out of the Champions League ahead of schedule.
After the first 6 games, the top scorers are Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah. Both players have 7 goals. Leo Messi with 4 assists is the best assistant.
