Liverpool and Barcelona lead the charge in exhilarating new-look Champions League

Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, looks on during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD4 match between Sporting Clube de Portugal and Manchester City at Estadio Jose Alvalade on November 05, 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)

By Yanga Sibembe

30 Jan 2025

Following the culmination of the Champions League group phase, Liverpool and Barcelona have established themselves as favourites to be crowned European champions. Of course, knockout soccer is not that simple.

The first round in the new format of the European Champions League, one of the world’s top club competitions, came to an exciting conclusion as it dished up a buffet of exhilarating final fixtures in the league phase.

All 36 teams that took part in this new version of the competition were in action simultaneously, with some interesting results. As winners of the league phase Liverpool pocketed €55.9-million for their seven wins and one defeat in the new format. This despite the fact that they went down 3-2 to PSV Eindhoven as manager Arne Slot rested a number of his star players to grant some youngsters and fringe players a taste of European soccer.

Liverpool were in perfect form for the bulk of the league phase, leading the chasing pack with the speed of sprinting legend Usain Bolt.

Raging Reds

Despite tripping and taking a tumble at the final hurdle of this stage of the competition, the Reds have firmly established themselves as the team to beat this season.

Of course, the beauty of knockout soccer is that form doesn’t always influence the outcome. It’s all about turning up on the day. So, even with Liverpool laying down a marker in the league phase, a number of other teams will back themselves to also reach the final — which is set to be played on 31 May 2025 in Munich.

“I don’t know if it’s a big achievement. But it is a good achievement to end up top of this league,” Slot said of his team finishing first.

“I have said many times it is so hard to judge a league table after eight games, let alone if all the teams play different opponents. It doesn’t tell me much, because some teams have faced easier opponents than others,” said Slot.

“It’s always nice if there’s a new format where you end up No 1, but it doesn’t give us any assurances for the next round.”

Raphinha of FC Barcelona. (Photo: Yasser Bakhsh / Getty Images)

Joining Liverpool as automatic qualifiers for the next round are Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa. The 16 teams that placed ninth to 24th on the log table will now face each other in the playoff round to determine who will join the top eight clubs in the round of 16 proper.

The 16 playoff opponents are Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, PSV, Paris St-Germain, Benfica, Monaco, Brest, Feyenoord, Juventus, Celtic, Manchester City, Sporting, and Club Brugge.

Belligerent Barcelona

Along with Liverpool, Barcelona have shown their quality in the group stage. The Catalans had an opportunity to leapfrog the Reds into first place in the league, but they were held to a 2-2 draw by free-scoring Atalanta to finish two points behind Liverpool.

Nevertheless, the Spanish giants sent a clear message to their rivals for the competition with a haul of 28 goals from their eight matches. German side Borussia Dortmund, who were losing finalists last season, were the next best — scoring six goals less than Hansi Flick’s team.

Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City. (Photo: Gualter Fatia / Getty Images)

Although Barca’s attack includes two of the top three top scorers in the competition so far — polished Polish striker Robert Lewandowksi and Brazilian forward Raphinha — the team’s defence has been poor. The Blaugrana conceded the most goals from all the teams that finished in the top eight, shipping in 13 goals. Fourth-placed Inter Milan were the best defenders, conceding just once.

“That’s what we have to improve, the defensive work. We are happy to finish in this position, but we have to work on many things,” said Barcelona boss Flick in assessing his team’s league phase campaign.

“We have the potential to do something more, and now we will have an extra week (because of not being in the play-offs) to do more training,” Flick said.

Man City scrape through

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City knew it was win or head home when they came up against Belgium’s Club Brugge. They accomplished this mission with a 3-1 win over their opponents, but the score flattered the 2023 European champions as the psychological frailties that have seen them struggle this season came to the forefront once more as they conceded first.

Nevertheless, the reigning English champions squeezed through, finishing 22nd on the table. This placing has made life extremely difficult for Guardiola and his men. They will face either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the playoffs. The latter two clubs also struggled under the new format, despite winning 21 Champions League titles between them.

“I would say I don’t like (the new format), because we suffered a lot,” said Guardiola, whose team won just three of their eight games in the league phase.

“I don’t know if they (Real and Bayern) are happy to play against us… It is what it is. One is the king of the competition, the other is the second or third king,” Guardiola said of his team’s potential opponents in the playoff round.

“We play this competition with a thousand million problems. They are favourites, yes. They are better than us right now,” Guardiola stated.

The draw for the playoffs will take place on Friday, 31 January. DM

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Raging Reds

Belligerent Barcelona

Man City scrape through