Champions League results: Man City survives, set for knockout-round clash with fellow European giant

The Portuguese side equalizes against Bologna, which pushes them ahead of Dinamo Zagreb — who, despite beating AC Milan, would now be out.

Savinho scores

That's probably game, set and match.

After a mostly shambolic league phase, Man City will finish in the top 24... and still have every chance to win the competition.

With Villa leading, and Atalanta equalizing at Barcelona, here's the shape of the top-eight race with 20 minutes to go:

After City's goal, and Christian Pulisic's equalizer for AC Milan in Croatia, here's how things stand on the bubble:

It's 2-1 to City!

Savinho plays Josko Gvardiol into the box. His cross is turned into the net by a Brugge defender.

And just like that, City are up into the top 24!

Mateo Kovacic slices through the Brugge midfield, slides a clever finish into the bottom corner, and it's 1-1 at the Etihad.

City now has 40 minutes to find a second goal.

All eyes on Man City, which needs two goals to avoid elimination.

Here's the table coming out of halftime.

It's 1-0 to the visitors!

And frankly, it had been coming. City has been dreadful, and now needs two goals in the second half.

Yunus Musah just got sent off for a second yellow.

Milan, down a goal and a man, is down in 12th place of the live standings after entering the day in the top eight.

Aston Villa has thrown away its lead to Celtic. That game is now 2-2.

Real Madrid is up 1-0.

Lille is back up 2-1, and Bayer Leverkusen is up 1-0. Both are in the top eight as things stand, with Villa dropping out.

Ousmane Dembélé makes it 3-0 in favor of PSG at Stuttgart.

After early struggles in the league phase, the French champions will comfortably reach the knockouts — in 15th place, as it stands!

It's still 0-0 after 33 minutes in Manchester. City still doesn't have a shot on goal.

Reminder: None of these other results change Man City's task. They have to win. They haven't given fans much confidence they'll do that. It's eerily quiet at the Etihad.

Vangelis Pavlidis puts Benfica up 1-0 at Juventus.

Almost simultaneously, Ousmane Dembélé scores for PSG to double their lead at Stuttgart.

And then Dinamo Zagreb, the Croatian club that's largely been written off, goes ahead against AC Milan!

That leaves the bubble looking like this...

The top 8, as it stands after 15 minutes...

Feyenoord's equalizer at Lille bumped Lille back down in the playoff places.

City looked open and vulnerable to Brugge counterattacks early.

At the other end, they haven't created much of note in the first 12 minutes.

They'll have plenty of possession, and they'll probably camp out in the final third. The question, as ever, is whether they can translate that to chances, and eventually ram in a goal. A draw wouldn't be sufficient.

Bradley Barcola puts the Parisians up 1-0 from a corner.

That, of course, leaves PSG in excellent shape. They only need a draw.

Morgan Rogers scores for Aston Villa against Celtic. And then he scores again, to put the hosts up 2-0 inside five minutes. (Rogers has been a revelation at Villa Park this season.)

That result, for now, would push Villa up into the top eight.

Inter Milan, Atlético Madrid, Lille and Bayern Munich are also up 1-0

All 36 teams, all 18 games, all at once.

This could be riveting. It could be totally overwhelming, and/or anticlimactic.

Let's find out!

One additional detail to consider: PSG and Stuttgart, who meet head-to-head in Germany tonight, and who are level on 10 points, would both guarantee progression to the playoff round with a draw.

So... might they be conservative, or even collude and settle for a 0-0?

The latter scenario is unlikely, because of the opti. But, if they're tied in the second half, don't be surprised if they both rein things in and accept a draw.

Before everything kicks off, a reminder that, entering the day, the bracket would look like this:

Of course, all of that will change over the next two hours.

You can game out your own scenarios, and follow the live table, on UEFA's website.

By the end of the night, we'll know which 24 teams will advance to the knockout rounds.

We'll also get a rough outline of the knockout-round bracket. Whereas in past years, UEFA held a draw ahead of each round, this year teams will be seeded and drawn into a bracket that looks like this:

In other words, by night's end, every qualifying team will have their first opponent whittled down to two or four options. Whoever finishes 15th will play either 17th or 18th in the playoff round. Whoever finishes first will play either 15th, 16th, 17th or 18th in the Round of 16. (In the bracket above, read "/" as "or.")

They playoff qualifiers (teams 9-24) learn their specific opponents at a draw on Friday (6 a.m. ET).

They'll then play two-leg ties in mid-February. And then, with the field cut to 16, a second draw on Feb. 21 will sort the remaining teams and set the full bracket.

The entire field will essentially be seeded in pods of two — 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th, and so on — to ensure that the top two teams can't meet until the final, the top four can't meet until the semifinals, and the top eight can't meet until the quarters.