scenarios

The reaches its first climax on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET. All 36 groups will play to conclude the “league part.” CBS Sports activities, which can in the US, has been billing it as “Matchday Mayhem.”

That is as a result of, over two chaotic, complicated hours, dozens of targets can be scored, and each will tweak the . Groups will leap and fall, above and beneath varied cut-lines. And by the top, a number of urgent questions can be answered, specifically:

? The 2023 champions of Europe, and , should beat Membership Brugge to advance to the knockout rounds.

Will PSG survive? A draw at Stuttgart could be enough. A loss would put them on the mercy of Man Metropolis, Benfica and Sporting Clube de Portugal. (If Metropolis wins, neither Portuguese membership loses, and PSG does lose, the Parisians could be out.)

Who will declare the six accessible byes to the Spherical of 16? Liverpool and Barcelona have locked up two of eight. A whopping 18 groups are nonetheless in rivalry for the remainder.

For these not but aware of the , a refresher: The 36 groups are all tussling in a single desk. The highest eight finishers will advance straight to the Spherical of 16. The subsequent 16 — these in positions 9-24 — will advance to a playoff spherical. The underside 12 can be eradicated.

After seven of eight matches apiece, the tiered desk seems to be like this:

Clinched bye to Spherical of 16: Liverpool (21), Barcelona (18)

Clinched knockout rounds, in rivalry for bye: Arsenal (16), Inter Milan (16), Atlético Madrid (15), AC Milan (15), Atalanta (14), Bayer Leverkusen (13), Aston Villa (13), Monaco (13), Lille (13), Brest (13), Feyenoord (13), Borussia Dortmund (12), Bayern Munich (12), Actual Madrid (12), Juventus (12), Celtic (12)

In rivalry for knockout rounds: PSV (11), Membership Brugge (11), Benfica (10), PSG (10), Sporting Clube de Portugal (10), Stuttgart (10), Manchester Metropolis (8), Dinamo Zagreb (8), Shakhtar Donetsk (7)

Eradicated: Bologna (5), Sparta Prague (4), RB Leipzig (3), Girona (3), Crvena Zvezda (Pink Star Belgrade) (3), Sturm Graz (3), RB Salzburg (3), BSC Younger Boys (1), Slovan Bratislava (0)

The matchups for Matchday 8, or “Matchday Mayhem,” .

The stay standings, which can replace throughout video games and grow to be the ultimate standings round 5 p.m. ET, . (The .)

And we at Yahoo Sports activities will allow you to make sense of all of the twists and turns, the highlights and controversies, beneath.

Live8 updates

Wed, January 29, 2025 at 8:38 PM GMT+1The Champions League knockout bracket will quickly take form

By the top of the evening, we’ll know which 24 groups will advance to the knockout rounds.

We’ll additionally get a tough define of the knockout-round bracket. Whereas in previous years, UEFA held a draw forward of every spherical, this yr groups can be seeded and drawn right into a bracket that appears like this:

In different phrases, by evening’s finish, each qualifying crew could have their first opponent whittled down to 2 or 4 choices. Whoever finishes fifteenth will play both seventeenth or 18th within the playoff spherical. Whoever finishes first will play both fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth or 18th within the Spherical of 16. (Within the bracket above, learn “/” as “or.”)

They playoff qualifiers (groups 9-24) study their particular opponents .

They’re going to then play two-leg ties in mid-February. After which, with the sphere minimize to 16, a second draw on Feb. 21 will type the remaining groups and set the complete bracket.

The whole area will basically be seeded in pods of two — 1st/2nd, third/4th, and so forth — to make sure that the highest two groups cannot meet till the ultimate, the highest 4 cannot meet till the semifinals, and the highest eight cannot meet till the quarters.

Wed, January 29, 2025 at 8:30 PM GMT+1Despite fireplace, Man Metropolis vs. Membership Brugge will nonetheless kick off at 3 p.m. ET

A fireplace broke out in certainly one of Man Metropolis’s merchandise models simply hours earlier than their Champions League conflict with Membership Brugge 😳

Fortunately everybody on website was evacuated in time, and the blaze was contained 🙏

Wed, January 29, 2025 at 8:25 PM GMT+1How to look at at the moment

First issues first: Within the U.S., each sport is on .

The query: Which of the 18 do you have to select?

The perfect reply: All of them. Watch the “Golazo Present,” which is soccer’s greatest tackle “NFL RedZone.” It is whiparound protection of each objective, large probability and extra. The CBS Sports activities crew — not like the Premier League and different broadcasters who’ve tried related ideas — has executed a wonderful job with it. And it would as properly have been designed particularly for a day like at the moment.

However if you happen to’d favor much less chaos, Man Metropolis-Brugge might be the choose. If in case you have a second display, go along with that and PSG-Stuttgart.

Wed, January 29, 2025 at 8:15 PM GMT+1Scenarios, and learn how to comply with them

There are actually 1000’s of potential outcomes at the moment. With 18 simultaneous video games and objective differential inevitably an element, the eventualities are limitless.

So, our recommendation is identical because it : Do not even attempt to course of them.

There are a number of digestible ones, after all:

Manchester Metropolis should beat Membership Brugge

PSG should win or draw to be protected. A loss at Stuttgart, a Man Metropolis win, and outcomes for Benfica and Sporting Clube de Portugal would remove the Parisians.

Nonetheless, all 4 of PSG, Stuttgart, Benfica and Sporting would undergo, regardless of their outcomes, if Man Metropolis does not win.

Atlético Madrid and AC Milan, the 2 groups on 15 factors, can clinch a bye to the Spherical of 16 with a win

However a lot is contingent on a lot else that the complete record of permutations is not possible to internalize. So, settle in, watch the video games, and comply with alongside; we’ll strive that can assist you perceive the implications of every objective.

Wed, January 29, 2025 at 8:13 PM GMT+1Lineups

Liverpool, having already clinched a spot within the prime two, will play a second-string crew on this remaining matchday. (There isn’t a distinction between ending first and second.)

Elsewhere, there’s some rotation for groups already safe within the knockout-rounds, however most are enjoying their strongest lineups.

Wed, January 29, 2025 at 8:08 PM GMT+1A first outdoors Man Metropolis’s stadium

A decisive night at Manchester Metropolis start with a fireplace outdoors the Etihad Stadium.

It has been extinguished, authorities say no one was harmed, and the sport is about to go forward as deliberate. However nonetheless, not the best begin to the evening…

.

Wed, January 29, 2025 at 8:07 PM GMT+1Man Metropolis’s lineup for his or her win-or-go-home match vs. Membership Brugge

Tonight’s line-up 💪

XI | Ederson, Nunes, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Gundogan, De Bruyne (C), Bernardo, Foden, Haaland

SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Carson, Grealish, Savinho, Wright, Alleyne, O’Reilly, Lewis, McAtee |

Wed, January 29, 2025 at 8:00 PM GMT+1Matchday Mayhem begins in a single hour

Welcome to Yahoo Sports activities’ stay protection of the ultimate day of the Champions League group part! Preserve it locked proper right here for all the most recent information, highlights, eventualities and scores as 18 video games kick off at 3 p.m. ET with three groups dealing with elimination together with Manchester Metropolis and PSG.