UEFA Champions League Group stages : Final match day before FIFA World Cup 2022 begins

Final match day of the UEFA Champions League group stages ahead of the FIFA World cup 2022 takes place tonight. 14 teams have already booked their places for the Round of 16 and the remaining 2 spots are up for grabs. Some shocking moments were on display from the group stages itself as some of the biggest clubs in Europe have already been eliminated or demoted to the Europa League.

Dutch champions AFC Ajax, 5-time UCL winners FC Barcelona, German outfit Bayer Leverkusen, Portuguese side Sporting CP, Europa league’s most successful team Sevilla and Italian giants Juventus are all set to feature in UEFA Europa League following the World cup.

Confirmed for the round of 16 ✅
🏆 Most likely to go all the way? #UCL pic.twitter.com/HzdOQvMO78

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 1, 2022

Before we get into group-by-group analysis, let’s find out the teams that have already qualified.

Spain – Real Madrid

England – Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Liverpool

Italy – Napoli and Inter Milan

Germany – Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Dortmund

France – Paris Saint Germain

Portugal – FC Porto and Benfica

Belgium – Club Brugge

Group A 

Napoli and Liverpool are the two clubs that are going through to the next stage of the Champions after finishing 1st and 2nd respectively. Both the teams ended the group stage with 15 points but Napoli are confirmed Group A winners due to a better goal difference of 14. Ajax will go through to the UEFA Europa League.

Group B

This group had teams like FC Porto, Club Brugge, Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen. Atletico Madrid were the favorites to reach the last 16 but their terrible performance enabled FC Porto and Club Brugge to reach the round of 16. After losing to Leverkusen last night, Atletico Madrid will not feature in any European competition this season.

Group C

Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Viktoria Plzen and FC Barcelona constituted Group C. Plzen were the only minnows in this group and Barcelona were expected to reach the later stages of UCL but for the second straight season they will be playing in the Europa League. 6-time champions Bayern Munich are the confirmed group winners and Italian champions Inter Milan are all set to feature in the last 16.

Group D 

North London side Tottenham Hotspur ended the group stages on top of Group D with last season’s Eintrach Frankfurt finishing second. Frankfurt missed out on becoming the Group winners by just 2 points but they will be happy to go through. Sporting CP will relegate down to the Europa League and French club Marseille finished last.

Group E

2-time UCL champions Chelsea are currently first in Group E and until now they are the only team from the group to reach last 16. They will face last placed Dinamo Zagreb who have already and with a victory, Chelsea will finish as group E winners. 7-time UCL winners AC Milan will tussle with third placed RB Salzburg on match day 6 for the second spot as both the sides have equal chances of going through. Only a point separates the two sides and the winner of this match takes all.

Group F

Perhaps the most interesting group this season with teams like defending champions Real Madrid, Celtic, Shakhtar Donetsk and RB Leipzig. On match day 5, Real Madrid increased RB Leipzig’s chances of making it to the last 16 after suffering their first defeat of the season against the German side. Madrid have already qualified for the later stages and they will be confirmed group winners if they win against bottom sided Celtic. However, the final fixture of Group F between third placed Shakhtar and second placed Leipzig is a very important game for both. Only 3 points separates the two sides and a draw will be enough for Leipzig. However, if Shakhtar win tonight, they will take the second spot because of a better goal difference than Leipzig.

Group G 

English champions Manchester City are confirmed group G winners and they will be joined by Borussia Dortmund who will finish in the second spot. Sevilla can go down to Europa League even if they lose tonight against Man City. Last placed Copenhagen will face Borussia Dortmund.

Group F

2-time UCL winners Juventus had a disappointing UCL campaign as they are no more in contention for reaching the last 16s. The Italian giants are expected to feature in Europa League following the FIFA World cup if they win against group leaders Paris Saint Germain. SL Benfica can finish as group winners if Juventus win their last match. PSG and Benfica are going through to the round of 16 and Maccabi Haifa have been eliminated.

The round of 16 is in sight! 🙏

Predict 1 player to dominate the headlines at full time 📰#UCL pic.twitter.com/lcN0B7dDzF

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 2, 2022

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