In the early hours of this morning, all the Champions League group stages were played, and all 16 knockout teams were born. They are Bayern, Copenhagen, Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid, Napoli, Real Sociedad, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Lazio, Borussia Dortmund, Paris, Manchester City, Leipzig, Barcelona, Porto. La Liga has four seats, Serie A and Bundesliga each have three teams to advance to the knockout rounds, and only two teams in the Premier League are Manchester City and Arsenal, which is the first time in recent seasons that only two teams have advanced to the round of 16. There is only one seed left in Ligue 1, followed by Porto from the Portuguese Super League, PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie and Copenhagen from Denmark.
It is worth mentioning that the teams from La Liga, except for Sevilla, stopped in the group stage, and the other four La Liga teams all advanced to the knockout stage as group winners. Three of the four Serie A teams in the Champions League this season have reached the round of 16, but all three teams have qualified as group runners-up, so their opponents in the knockout rounds are tough to bite. Especially Inter Milan, because it is in the same group as Real Sociedad, according to the principle of avoiding the same group, Inter's opponents in the knockout round are either Premier League teams, or La Liga and Bundesliga teams.
In the round of 16, the least anticipated is Copenhagen from Denmark. After the group draw, it is estimated that no one expected Copenhagen to become another team other than Bayern to qualify from the group. According to the original **, Manchester United will be the other team most likely to qualify from the group, never thought that Manchester United only got one win in Group A, finished bottom of the group, and did not even get the chance to qualify for the Europa League. Manchester United has been on the cusp this season, whether it is the league, or the Champions League, Manchester United's performance is very bad, successive defeats have put Ten Hag in dire straits, recently he has been out of class more and more rumors, if the league after this can not lead the team to win, it is estimated that Ten Hag's days at Manchester United will really begin to count.
In addition, Real Madrid and Manchester City both won both of their group games, and both teams also happened to have won the Champions League in the last two seasons. In addition to Manchester City and Real Madrid, Bayern also had an excellent record in the group stage, with five wins and one draw unbeaten. So far, Bayern has achieved an impressive record of 40 games unbeaten in the group stage of the Champions League, and from next season, the Champions League will adopt the group stage format of the Swiss round, which also means that Bayern's 40-game unbeaten unbeaten in the group stage will become the record of the Champions League group stage.
Starting next season, there will be 36 teams in the group stage of the Champions League, four more than the existing number of places. The group stage will also be changed from the traditional group double round robin to a new Swiss round, which can not only increase the opportunity for strong dialogue, but also increase each team from the current 6 group games to 8 group games, and each round of the group stage opponents are different, each team will also have 4 home and 4 away. After 8 rounds, the top 8 teams automatically advance to the top 8 of the Champions League, and the teams ranked 9-24 play two legs of knockout matches to get the other 8 promotion placesThe teams ranked 25-36 were eliminated directly and did not qualify for the Europa League.
In addition to Manchester United, Milan have also endured a disappointing Champions League journey. Milan reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season and have formed a super group of death with Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle this season. Milan have struggled to find their form in the first few rounds of the group stage, despite six points from their last three games, eight points level with Paris. However, because the two teams did not have an advantage in each other's records, Milan was squeezed into third place in the group by Paris, and in the end, Milan failed to qualify directly in the group stage and had to participate in the Europa League play-offs. This is a huge blow for Milan as they have been working hard to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League.
However, even if Milan perform well in the Europa League play-offs and manage to qualify, they will face a huge challenge. In the Europa League, Milan will face strong teams from other countries, such as the Reds Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen, who are unbeaten in the Bundesliga and Europa League this season, which will undoubtedly make it more difficult for them to qualify for the knockout rounds. Therefore, for Milan, they need to give it their all in the next games to try for a better result.
In addition to Manchester United and Milan, a number of other teams have also experienced different fates. Some strong teams such as Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Real Madrid have successfully qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League and they will continue to fight for the title. While some of the weaker teams have been knocked out of the tournament, they will need to bounce back and look for new opportunities in the upcoming leagues.
After the Champions League round of 16 has all been revealed, teams will begin to prepare for the knockout rounds. The draw for the Champions League 1 8 finals will take place next Monday night at 7pm, and for the teams that have already qualified for the knockout rounds, they are already starting to guess who they will face in the knockout rounds. In the process, they will need to evaluate and adjust their squad to ensure they can perform at their best in the upcoming games. At the same time, they also need to study the tactics and characteristics of their opponents in order to better develop a game strategy.
For the fans, the knockout round of the Champions League is undoubtedly a feast. With teams such as Paris, Inter and Napoli all advancing to the knockout stage as group runners-up, there will be a strong conversation in the upcoming knockout round. As fans, we will also have the opportunity to see teams compete fiercely for glory and championships. In the process, fans will also feel the passion and charm brought by the football game.
The 2023-2024 Champions League group stage has come to an end, and the knockout rounds will lead us to a new stage. In the process, teams are fighting for glory and championship this season. While Manchester United and Milan have been disappointing, other teams still have chances to do well. Let's look forward to more surprises and excitement in the Champions League knockout rounds this season!