After the early morning matches of December 14, the knockout round of the 2023/24 Champions League season has officially determined the 16 participating teams.
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| After a draw with Borussia Dortmund, PSG secured a ticket to the Champions League round of 16. (Source: AP) |
Determine the last two spots in the round of 16
Paris Saint-Germain and Porto secured favorable results in the final round of matches to become the final names to enter the round of 16.
In Group F , the group known as "death," Paris Saint-Germain struggled to hold host Borussia Dortmund to a 1-1 draw at Signal Iduna Park.
Warren Zaire Emery was the hero for PSG with a 56th-minute equaliser after Dortmund had taken the lead through Karim Adeyemi.
This result was enough for the French team to win the remaining spot in Group F and enter the knockout round, because in the same match, Newcastle United lost 1-2 to AC Milan at home.
Newcastle United got off to a flying start with Joelinton scoring in the 33rd minute, but Milan turned the game around after goals from Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze.
At the end of the group stage, PSG had the same 8 points as AC Milan but won the right to continue thanks to a better head-to-head record.
In the two encounters, Paris Saint-Germain won 3-0 at home against AC Milan and lost 1-2 away at San Siro.
Meanwhile, in Group H, Porto also won the right to continue after a resounding 5-3 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in a "life and death" match.
Wenderson Galeno (double), Mehdi Taremi, Pepe and Chico Conceicao were on target to give Porto the win. On the other side of the front line, the away team's goals belonged to Sikan, Eguinaldo and an own goal by Eustaquio.
In the same match, Barcelona lost 2-3 away to Antwerp - a team that was eliminated early.
After 6 matches, Barcelona has 12 points like Porto but still takes the top spot in the group thanks to a better head-to-head record.
Thus, the 16 teams participating in the round of 16 of the Champions League this season include Bayern Munich, Copenhagen (group A), Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven (group B), Real Madrid, Napoli (group C), Real Sociedad, Inter Milan (group D), Atletico Madrid, Lazio (group E), Borussia Dortmund, PSG (group F), Manchester City, RB Leipzig (group G), Barcelona and Porto (group H).
The eight teams that have gone down to the Europa League play-off round are Galatasaray, Lens, Braga, Benfica, Feyenoord, AC Milan, Young Boys and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Spanish football impresses
Except for Sevilla who was eliminated, Spanish football has had 4 teams participating in the round of 16 including Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona.
Spain is also the country with many teams participating in the knockout round of the Champions League this season.
Notably, all four teams won the top spot in the group, thereby gaining some advantage when entering the round of 16 matches.
Among these, Real Madrid is the most impressive team when they won 18 absolute points after 6 matches - scoring 16 goals and conceding 7 goals.
Defending champions Manchester City are the only team to have a perfect record like Real Madrid in the group stage. Pep Guardiola's team scored 18 goals and conceded 7.
Meanwhile, Bundesliga and Serie A are the leagues with the second most teams entering the knockout round after La Liga, with three clubs each.
The three German teams are Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, while Napoli, Inter Milan and Lazio are the representatives from Italy.
However, Germany has two teams ranked first in the group, Bayern Munich and Dortmund, while Italy has no representative ranked highest.
English football was highly regarded before the group stage took place, but in the end it was disappointing when only two representatives won the right to continue.
The two Premier League teams in the round of 16 are defending champions Manchester City and Arsenal (both group winners) while Newcastle United and Manchester United are bottom of the group and have been eliminated from European competition.
Champions League 2023/24 Round of 16 Schedule
According to UEFA regulations, the group winners will be in pot 1, while the second-placed teams will be in pot 2. The specific seeding groups are as follows:
Group 1 : Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Man City and Barcelona
Group 2 : Copenhagen, PSV Eindhoven, Napoli, Inter Milan, Lazio, PSG, Leipzig and Porto
In the round of 16, two teams from the same group and the same country will not meet. Fans expect fierce competition when strong teams such as Inter Milan and PSG are in the second seed group. In addition, Napoli and Leipzig are potentially dangerous opponents.
The draw for the Champions League Round of 16 will take place at 6pm on December 18 (Vietnam time) in Nyon, Switzerland. The first legs of the Champions League Round of 16 will take place on February 13-14 and 20-21, 2024. The second legs will take place on March 5-6 and 12-13, 2024.
This season's Champions League final will take place at Wembley Stadium (London, England) on June 1, 2024.
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| List of 16 teams in the round of 16 of the Champions League 2023/24. |
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| Seeding groups in the 2023/24 Champions League round of 16 draw. |
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| Final results of the 2023/24 Champions League group stage. (Source: UEFA) |
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