AC Milan and Atalanta fell from the automatic qualifying places for the Champions League 16 Tonight, as Aston Villa and Lille replaced them at eight.
Milan started the day in sixth place, but went down 2-1 to Dinamo Zagreb. Martin Baturina’s 19th minute goal put the hosts ahead and the dismissal of Yunus Musah six minutes before the break made things even more difficult for Rossoneri.
Christian Pulisic balanced eight minutes in the second half only for Marko Pjaca to win it for his hometown on the hour.
Atalanta produced a batting screen against Barcelona, but a 2-2 draw was not enough.
Lamine Yamal and Ronald Araujo won for the Hansi Flick side with Ederson and Mario Pasalic on the goal for the Europa League winners.
Liverpool gets the top spot 📈
Aston Villa automatically secures ✅
Man City is in the stages of the play-off 🤝Champions League Phase Scores 2024/25 📊 pic.twitter.com/aumsj16bkv
– Football at TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 29 2025
Rogers Downs Celtic
Atalanta would hop for a Villa Park victory in Villa Park, but it shouldn’t have been as Morgan Rogers Hat-Trick was the inspiration behind Home Side’s 4-2 victory.
Lille produced an even more emphatic victory, forging the Feyenoord 6-1 with the Gernot Trauner scoring two of their own goals.
Manchester City got the win they needed to secure a playoff, hitting behind 1-0 in the half to beat the Club Brugge 3-1 thanks to the efforts of Mateo Kovacic and Savinho on each side of Joel Ordonez.
Club Brugge did much earlier in the competition to qualify as well.
Stuttgart was the side that was missing after a 4-1 defeat at home to revitalize Paris Saint-Germain, for which Ooudmane Dembele scored a hat-trick.
Liverpool
Liverpool finished the top despite losing 3-2 at Eindhoven, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott in Target for a very changing side of Liverpool.
Rodrygo scored twice and Jude Bellingham once, as Real Madrid won 3-0 in Brest, while Harry Kane was among the scorers, as Bayern Munich beat Slovan Bratislava 3-1.
Automatically qualifying for the round of 16
Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, Aston Villa
Groups with playoffs
Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, Bayern. Munich, Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica
Playoff Unseed Groups
Monaco, Brest, Feyenoord, Juventus, Celtic, Manchester City, Sporting CP, Club Brugge
Eliminated
Dinamo Zagreb, Stuttgart, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bologna, Red Star Belgrade, Sturm Graz, Sparta Prague, RB Leipzig, Girona, Salzburg, Slovan Bratislava, Young Boys
