After a thrilling finish to the UEFA Champions League's first-ever league phase, the competition will gear up to hold its inaugural knockout phase playoffs with Friday's draw. The teams that finished from ninth through 24th in the league phase will take part in the knockout phase playoffs,

The UEFA Champions League's first-ever league phase is over, and the knockout stage outlook is now much clearer. Manchester City avoided disaster, Liverpool topped the league-phase table, and we will get Manchester City against either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the playoffs.

Bayern Munich will face either Manchester City or Celtic in the UEFA Champions League last 16 play-offs after missing out on direct qualification, despite beating Slovan Bratislava in their final league phase fixture.

Harry Kane helps Bayern Munich to beat Slovan Bratislava but victory is only good enough to earn the German club a play-off spot in the.

Pep Guardiola breathed a sigh of relief as Manchester City scraped into the Uefa Champions League play-offs with a 3-1 win over Club Brugge. City trailed their Belgian opponents at half time before Mateo Kovacic and the lively Savinho inspired a second-half comeback with a Joel Ordonez own goal sandwiched in between.

Follow live text commentary, score updates and match stats from Bayern Munich vs Slovan Bratislava in the UEFA Champions League

Barcelona's strong performance in the first-ever UEFA Champions League 'league phase' puts them in good standing to regain the title.

Arsenal have secured their place in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Round of 16. Mikel Arteta's side wrapped up their league phase campaign with a 2-1 win away at La Liga side Girona to finish third in the overall UCL rankings.

The UEFA Champions League's first-ever league phase came to a dramatic close on Wednesday, setting up for an equally entertaining knockout stage that begins in two weeks' time. The introduction of the new format means the Champions League will introduce a new phase of competition in February when 16 teams will take part in the knockout round playoffs.

Here's the state of play after the conclusion of the first stage of the Champions League: Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, Aston Villa. Monaco or Brest vs. Paris Saint-Germain or Benfica (for the right to play Liverpool or Barcelona)

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