Well, the new UEFA Champions League format has delivered exactly what it intended to: more drama and suspense.
33 of the 36 teams are still in the hunt to reach the last 16.
MORE — Champions League schedule
With six of eight matchweeks in the books in the 36-team League Phase and a break until the end of January for the final two matchweeks to be played, there are only a handful of teams either flying at the top or cut adrift at the bottom.
The rest is chaos, as there are just three points between Arsenal in third place and Club Brugge in 19th with up to 24 teams still in the hunt for seemingly six spots in the top eight. Securing a top eight finish means direct passage to the last 16, while tams who finish ninth to 24th will play in a two-legged playoff for the prize to reach the last 16.
MORE — Will Liverpool, Villa, Arsenal and City reach the last 16?
Below we take a look at which teams have qualified for a spot in the last 16, who has been knocked out, the table and more.
With two games to go nobody has qualified automatically to reach the last 16 by sealing a top eight spot. But plenty of teams are close.
Liverpool and Barcelona are guaranteed at least a top 24 finish, so they’ve already qualified for the a spot in the playoff round at the very least.
Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, Aston Villa, Inter Milan, Brest and Lille currently occupy the remaining spots in the top eight and a win in their next game could seal their spot in the last 16 as they will avoid having to play in a the playoff round.
Each team will play eight games in the new league phase of the tournament, against eight different teams. Four games at home and four away. Teams were ranked in to one of four pots and each team will play against two teams from each of the four pots. Teams will play one match at home and one match away against a team from each pot.
The top eight teams in the league phase will qualify for the Round of 16 automatically, while the teams who finish in positions 9-24 will qualify for the playoff round. Teams who finish 9-16 will be seeded for the playoffs, while teams in positions 17-24 will be unseeded. Teams who finish in positions 25-36 will be eliminated from the Champions League and will not play in any other European competition for the rest of the 2024-25 season.
The eight teams who advance from the knockout round will then face one of the teams who finished in positions 1-8 in the league phase in the Round of 16, and from then on the tournament will be a normal knockout format.
Young Boys, Slovan Bratislava and RB Leipzig have all been knocked out of the Champions League with all three teams losing all of their six games so far. That means with two games to go there’s no chance of them finishing in the top 24 teams and making it to the playoff round. The teams who finish in the bottom 12 positions of the League Phase are out of Europe altogether.
Top eight spots qualify directly for knockout rounds
Positions 9-24 are matched up in two-legged playoff ties
Positions 25-36 are eliminated from all European competitions
Liverpool — 6-0-0 — +23 GD — 18 points — Assured of at least a playoff spot (seeded)
Barcelona — 5-0-1 — +14 GD — 15 points — Assured of at least a playoff spot (unseeded)
Arsenal — 4-1-1 — +9 GD — 13 points
Bayer Leverkusen — 4-1-1 — +7 GD — 13 points
Aston Villa — 4-1-1 — +6 GD — 13 points
Inter Milan — 4-1-1 — +6 GD — 13 points
Brest — 4-1-1 — +4 GD — 13 points
Lille — 4-1-1 — +3 GD — 13 points
Borussia Dortmund — 4-0-2 — +9 GD — 12 points
Bayern Munich — 4-0-2 — +9 GD — 12 points
Atletico Madrid — 4-0-2 — +6 GD — 12 points
AC Milan — 4-0-2 — +3 GD — 12 points
Atalanta — 3-2-1 — +9 GD — 11 points
Juventus — 3-2-1 — +4 GD — 11 points
AS Monaco — 3-1-1 — +5 GD — 10 points
Benfica — 3-1-2 — +3 GD — 10 points
Sporting Lisbon — 3-1-2 — +2 GD — 10 points
Feyenoord — 3-1-2 — -1 GD — 10 points
Club Brugge — 3-1-2 — -2 GD — 10 points
Real Madrid — 3-0-3 — +1 GD — 9 points
Celtic — 2-3-1 — 0 GD — 9 points
Manchester City — 2-1-3 — +4 GD — 8 points
PSV Eindhoven — 2-2-2 — +2 GD — 8 points
Dinamo Zagreb — 2-2-2 — -5 GD — 8 points
Paris Saint-Germain — 2-1-3 — 0 GD — 7 points
Stuttgart — 2-1-3 — -3 GD — 7 points
Shakhtar Donetsk — 1-1-4 — -8 GD — 4 points — Can’t qualify for last 16 directly, but may reach playoff round (seeded)
Sparta Prague — 1-1-4 — -11 GD — 4 points — Can’t qualify for last 16 directly, but may reach playoff round (seeded)
Sturm Graz — 1-0-5 — -5 GD — 3 points — Can’t qualify for last 16 directly, but may reach playoff round (unseeded)
Girona — 1-0-5 — -6 GD — 3 points — Can’t qualify for last 16 directly, but may reach playoff round (unseeded)
Red Star Belgrade — 1-0-5 — -9 GD — 3 points — Can’t qualify for last 16 directly, but may reach playoff round (unseeded)
Red Bull Salzburg — 1-0-5 — -15 GD — 3 points — Can’t qualify for last 16 directly, but may reach playoff round (unseeded)
Bologna — 0-2-4 — -6 GD — 2 points — Can’t qualify for last 16 directly, but may reach playoff round (unseeded)
RB Leipzig — 0-0-6 — -7 GD — 0 points — Eliminated
Slovan Bratislava — 0-0-6 — -16 GD — 0 points — Eliminated
Young Boys — 0-0-6 — -19 GD — 0 points — Eliminated
