The league phase of this season’s UEFA Champions League is back.
NEWUNPLUG reports that 36 teams, including the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Manchester City and Juventus, will be competing in the league phase to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage in the next couple of months.
The top eight teams in the league phase standings will automatically qualify for the Round of 16 stage.
The teams finishing in 25th position and below are eliminated and do not drop into the UEFA Europa League.
Also, the teams finishing in 9th position to 24th position will compete in a two-legged knockout-phase play-off.
The eight teams who win their knockout-phase play-off each will face one of the seeded top-eight finishers in the league-phase table in the last-16 stage for a place in the quarter-finals.
NEWSUNPLUG reports that Paris Saint-Germain are the current holders of the Champions League after they won it last season.
The Parisians had thrashed Inter Milan 5-0 in the final at the Allianz Arena to win the Europe top-flight league competition.
They defeated the likes of Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal in the knockout stages before humiliating Inter in the final.
Interestingly, Luis Enrique’s men didn’t start well in the league phase of the Champions League last season.
The French Ligue 1 champions finished in 15th position in the league phase.
PSG competed in a two-legged knockout-phase play-off and eventually ended up winning the competition.
This season’s league phase will start this week, and there are matches on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
PSG will clash with Atalanta at Parc des Princes, Bayern Munich will host Chelsea, Athletic Bilbao will tackle Arsenal, Real Madrid will face Marseille, Manchester City will battle Napoli, and Liverpool will welcome Atletico Madrid at Anfield, among other fixtures.
NEWSUNPLUG takes a look at the league phase of this season’s Champions League, chances of PSG retaining their crown and teams that could challenge for the trophy.
Speaking with NEWSUNPLUG on Monday, respected Lagos-based journalist, Femi Fabunmi pointed out that determination and focus helped PSG to win their first Champions League last season.
According to Fabunmi, the period of the knockout-phase play-off helped the French Ligue 1 giants to gain its balance, after finishing below the top eight teams in the league phase table.
“Any team who manages to finish in the top eight and qualify [for the Round of 16] has ample time to restructure and reshape,” Fabunmi told NEWSUNPLUG.
“The period of the knockout-phase play-off stage helped PSG gain its balance and that helped them last season.
“However, this is not cast in stone but it does help any team who is determined and focused. This is what happened to PSG last season and they ended up winning the Champions League for the first time in their history,” he said.
When asked to pick the favourite teams that could win the Champions League this season, Fabunmi named seven clubs.
He said: “This season, Liverpool, Barcelona, Napoli, Juventus, PSG, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are all favourites to do so.”
