Man City and PSG: Hectic night of 18 Champions League games at the same time
The Champions League has never before seen the kind of hectic multi-screen action that will play out in the eighth and final round of games next Wednesday.
When 18 games kick off at the same time, 9 p.m. Central European Time (2000 GMT), many eyes will be on Manchester and Stuttgart hoping to see the highest drama.
Paris Saint-Germain's remarkable 4-2 beating of Manchester City was the peak of this week's games as the two financial giants try to avoid embarrassing exits from the new 36-team single-standings format.
Despite the loss, Man City will be among the 24 advancing to the knockout stage if it wins at home against Club Brugge, and PSG can still be eliminated by losing at Stuttgart which sorely needs to win.
"If we don't win we won't deserve it," Man City coach Pep Guardiola said in Paris. "We haven't got enough points and we'll have to accept it."
It is the kind of scenario UEFA wanted from the refreshed format, where it has been hard to predict how many points are needed for a top-24 place.
Back in August, simulations by UEFA stats geeks suggested eight points would be enough to enter the knockout playoffs round.
Now it looks like the 25th-place team next Wednesday will go out with 10 or even 11 points. It could be PSG or Man City, which is currently 25th.
Few certainties, many possibilities
Liverpool and Barcelona — on a maximum 21 points and 18, respectively — definitely will be among the top eight teams who go direct to the round of 16 in March. That pays 11 million euros ($11.5 million) to each team from the total UEFA prize fund of close to 2.5 billion euros ($2.6 billion).
Another 16 teams — from third-placed Arsenal down to Celtic in 18th with 12 points — have sealed their top-24 finish.
Teams that finish from ninth to 24th enter the knockout playoffs round with games scheduled on Feb. 11-12 and Feb. 18-19. That's a mostly unwanted extra load in a crowded schedule for teams chasing domestic league and cup titles.
Teams in the danger zone, risking elimination on the last day, range from 19th-placed PSV Eindhoven on 11 points to Shakhtar Donetsk in 27th with just seven points. Man City has a meager eight points and must beat Club Brugge, which has its own jeopardy in 20th place with 11 points.
Nine teams are already eliminated because they cannot catch the 10-point tally of 24th-placed Stuttgart. They include 28th-placed Bologna which was five points down, to overmatched Slovan Bratislava and Young Boys, who have lost all seven games.
Contenders for top-8 finish
What will it take to finish eighth? Currently it is Bayer Leverkusen with 13 points and a goal difference of plus-6, which is the first tiebreaker. The cut shapes to come at 16 points, or 15 with a healthy goal difference. Leverkusen will host already-eliminated Sparta Prague.
Arsenal and Inter Milan, on 16 points, look safe barring a wild set of results aligning. They control their own destiny when Arsenal plays at low-ranked Girona, and Inter hosts 10th-placed Monaco.
Atletico Madrid and AC Milan also look strong on 15 points. Atletico finishes at already-eliminated Salzburg, and Milan goes to Dinamo Zagreb, which is 26th and must win to stay in contention.
Atalanta in seventh place, on 14 points, has a tough assignment at Barcelona but with the safety net of a plus-14 goal difference far better than teams below in the standings.
The standings are not kind to Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, respectively 15th and 16th — which puts them in line to face likely top seed Liverpool in the round of 16.
Bayern is strongly favored to beat Slovan and finish on 15 points, and Madrid could yet rise to eighth place despite languishing in 22nd after six rounds.
Madrid is on 12 points with a plus-5 goal difference before going to Brest, which also is in the mix. The surprise French debutant is 13th with 13 points.
In the mid-table logjam, ninth-placed Aston Villa hosts Celtic, and Lille hosting Feyenoord is 12th vs 11th.
Who's in jeopardy?
Man City, of course, plus PSG and Stuttgart among four teams on 10 points. Stuttgart's goal difference of minus-1 means a draw against PSG might not be enough to survive.
Sporting Lisbon in 23rd will advance with a win at home against Bologna, and 20th-placed Benfica might need just a point at Juventus, the draw specialist of Europe this season. Juventus has 12 points in 17th place, which risks a tough playoffs opponent just for the right to then face Liverpool or Barcelona.
In 19th place, with 11 points and a plus-3 goal difference, PSV likely is safe unless taking a heavy defeat from visiting Liverpool. In 27th place, Shakhtar must win at Borussia Dortmund, which is 14th.
Knockout rounds draw dates
Pairings for the knockout playoffs are made on Jan. 31 at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. Nos. 9-16 in the standings will be seeded and host the second leg. Nos. 17-24 are unseeded and host the first game.
There are two new features this season. Teams from the same country can face each other before the quarterfinals and there will be no separate draws for the quarterfinals and semifinals. The bracket is seeded and set like a tennis tournament.
The round of 16 draw on Feb. 21 will give all teams a clear path to the May 31 final at Bayern's stadium in Munich.
Source: Associated Press
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