Paris St Germain’s Warren Zaire-Emery celebrates scoring the equaliser in opposition to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League match on Decemeber 13, 2023
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Paris Saint-Germain and Kylian Mbappé had been left holding a ticket to the Champions League knockout round after a tense finish to the tightest group noticed Newcastle let its likelihood slip.
Porto also earned its place in the round of 16 draw on Monday with a 5-3 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk, which wanted to win to advance.
PSG’s 1-1 draw at Group F winner Borussia Dortmund — earned by 17-year-old Warren Zaïre-Emery’s 56th-minute leveler — was sufficient to safe second place as a result of Newcastle misplaced 2-1 at dwelling to AC Milan.
“We are still alive,” mentioned PSG coach Luis Enrique, whose unseeded workforce can now be drawn to face Manchester City, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. “No team will hope to play us in the next round.”
Newcastle was in the field seat kicking off the second half with a one-goal lead however ended in final place with out even the comfort prize of coming into the second-tier Europa League as a third-place finisher.
That reward flipped to Milan when it took the lead in the 84th as substitute Samuel Chukwueze raced clear to rating one minute after approaching from the bench. Milan had leveled in the 59th on United States playmaker Christian Pulisic’s purpose.
Newcastle joined Manchester United in dropping at dwelling — United on Tuesday — to finish backside of a bunch and provides England its weakest round of 16 problem for 11 years: simply defending champion Man City and Arsenal are in the draw Monday.
“We are absolutely devastated not to go through,” Newcastle supervisor Eddie Howe mentioned.
The 16-team lineup was accomplished by Porto, which completed runner-up in Group H to Barcelona although the Spanish champion misplaced 3-2 at Royal Antwerp.
Atletico Madrid’s 2-0 win over Lazio ensured it will finish high of Group E and be seeded in Monday’s draw. Lazio had already superior earlier than the ultimate round of video games. Last-place Celtic obtained a stoppage-time purpose to beat Feyenoord 2-1.
Man City despatched out a workforce of few common starters — together with former ball boy Micah Hamilton who scored on his debut — to win 3-2 at Red Star Belgrade and make sure the defending champion accomplished a six-win program atop Group G.
In the opposite group recreation that also didn’t have an effect on the ultimate standings, Leipzig beat Young Boys 2-1.
Round of 16 draw
The draw at UEFA headquarters on Monday consists of eight former champions who’ve mixed to win 33 of the 67 titles because the European Cup began in 1955.
Group winners (seeded): Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Barcelona.
Runners-up (unseeded): Copenhagen, PSV Eindhoven, Napoli, Inter Milan, Lazio, Paris Saint-Germain, Leipzig, Porto.
In the round of 16, groups can’t play an opponent from their very own nation or a workforce they already confronted in the group stage. Draws later in the season for the quarterfinals and semifinals are open with no seeding or nation safety.
Europa League playoffs
Third-place groups in Champions League teams hold taking part in in February in the knockout playoffs for the second-tier Europa League, which also are drawn Monday.
Playoffs qualifiers: Galatasaray, Lens, Braga, Benfica, Feyenoord, AC Milan, Young Boys, Shakhtar Donetsk.
Those groups will likely be unseeded, taking part in the house leg first, in opposition to runner-up groups in the Europa League teams. Those runners-up embody Sporting Lisbon, and will add Roma and Brighton after Thursday’s video games.
Winners of the Europa League playoffs advance to the round of 16 to face group winners like Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen, present leaders of the Premier League and Bundesliga, respectively.
Last-ever group stage
The Champions League mentioned farewell Wednesday to the normal round-robin teams of 4 groups taking part in one another dwelling and away.
Last yr, UEFA authorized a brand new and expanded 36-team format underneath stress from golf equipment who need extra assured video games, a diverse program with extra higher-quality opponents and extra money.
Each workforce in the 2024-25 Champions League will play eight video games as a substitute of six, in opposition to eight totally different opponents, in a single standings to rank them.
The high eight groups in January 2025 will advance to a 16-team knockout part in a seeded draw like a tennis match bracket. Teams positioned 9 by 24 in the standings will likely be paired in two-leg playoffs to fill the round of 16 bracket.
