With just one round left of the 2021/22 Champions League group stage to go, 11 of the 16 knockout places have been confirmed and while there will be many fingernails bitten across Europe next week, the English sides can rest easy.
Holders Chelsea, along with Liverpool and the two Manchester clubs are all through, as are FC Bayern and Paris Saint-Germain, but the Bundesliga has already had two big name casualties because Borussia Dortmund and Red Bull Leipzig have already bitten the dust.
Let’s take a look at the latest Champions League 2021 highlights and see if we can pick the five teams which will join the 11 already booked.
Group A
Two of the tournament favourites glided through Group A as Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain made their way to the last 16. The Sky Blues beat PSG 2-1 last week to exact some revenge for a 2-0 defeat at the Parc des Princes earlier in the competition.
The latest Champions League 2021 betting odds here at SBOTOP have Manchester City as favourites at a price of 4.00, with Mauricio Pochettino’s PSG at 7.00, and FC Bayern and Liverpool at 5.00 and 6.50. Holders Chelsea are at 8.00 and in great form too; we have another great competition on our hands.
Group A went as expected and Red Bull Leipzig and Club Brugges were just there to make up the numbers.
Group B
Liverpool stormed through Group B, winning five from five, confirming their place in the Round of 16 with a 2-0 victory at home to Atletico Madrid on Match-day Four, they followed that up with a win by the same score line over FC Porto.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid are sweating after losing at home to AC Milan and the Spanish giants are in danger of exiting.
Group C
Ajax too had a 100 per cent record and they put Borussia Dortmund out of the competition at the same time, beating the Bundesliga side 3-1 in Germany, a result which allowed Sporting Lisbon to make it to the Round of 16 for the first time since 2009. A hip injury to Erling Braut Haaland derailed BVB’s campaign and they now head to the Europa League.
Group D
Real Madrid and Inter Milan safely made it through Group D, seeing off Sherriff and Shakhtar Donetsk in the process. Los Blancos recovered from a shock home defeat to the Moldovan minnows, Sherriff, to win their other four games. Meanwhile Inter ground out enough results to proceed, and they can top the group when the two teams meet at the Bernabeu in their final fixture.
Group E
FC Bayern is the third team to win five from five, scoring 19 goals and conceding three in an impressive campaign. They guaranteed their place with a 5-2 win over Benfica as Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick and they will be joined in the Round of 16 by the Portuguese club or…Barcelona.
Group F
Manchester United made it through to the Round of 16 having twice mugged Villarreal along the way, by 2-1 at home and then 2-0 away. They were outplayed for much of the 180 minutes combat but they won through with a comeback at home; and then Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late goal at the Estadio de la Ceramica to win the game after David de Gea had kept the Red Devils in it, with a series of great saves.
Group H
Chelsea and Juventus traded blow for blow in Group H as they both made it comfortably through to the Round of 16. I Bianconeri snuffed out the Chelsea threat in a 1-0 win in Turin; but the Blues took their sweet revenge with a thumping 4-0 win a Stamford Bridge.
Who will fill the last five places?
In Group B Atletico must beat Porto and hope Liverpool can see of Milan. Diego Simeone’s team will likely do their bit but can they rely on Liverpool to make it six from six?
While Barcelona’s new boss Xavi has made a great start in La Liga with two wins, a Champions League Group E draw at home to Benfica was a disaster, as it means the Blaugrana needs to take something from their final game away to FC Bayern. With Benfica likely to win their game against Dynamo Kyiv, Xavi’s men might even need to beat Die Bayern.
The Yellow Submarine must now travel to Atalanta where a draw will be enough to take them through from Group F, though the free-scoring Serie A side will fancy their chances.
There are two places up for grabs in the wide-open Group G. Just three points separate Lille and Wolfsburg at the top and bottom of the group, and those two teams meet in Germany where a two goal win for Die Wolfe would see them through. Meanwhile, second and third placed Red Bull Salzburg and Sevilla will shoot it out in Austria. This one is going down to the wire. I’m going for Atletico, Benfica, Atalanta, Wolfsburg and Sevilla; so it could be ‘adios Barcelona!’
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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