Champions League Standings

Match Week 7 certainly was one hell of set of fixtures. Over two days, UEFA’s best clubs duked it out in the new qualifying round format. And it has been… awesome.

• Day 1 summary

• Day 2 summary

But now with the dust settled, fans nestled snug in their beds and only the lonely pundit left to furtively type out the last of the day’s reports with a wee dram of rum … we can share the standings and some analysis.

Smooth Sailing (aka, the Top 8)

• Automatically advance to Round of 16

• Don’t compete in Playoff Round

• Two fewer games = one big advantage

• Only Liverpool and Barcelona are locked in

• Arsenal and Inter have a mathematical chance of dropping, but that’s not likely gonna happen.

Raise the Spinnaker (aka, the Seeded Playoff Spots)

• Everyone on this list is guaranteed a playoff spot

• Higher placed clubs play lower placed ones on the Unseeded list (below)

  • Example: positions 9 & 10 will play positions 23 & 24; 11 & 12 play 21 & 22, etc.

• Aston Villa, Lille and Brest all dropped from the Top 8 this week.

There’s a Storm Ahead, Cap’n (aka, the Unseeded Playoff Spots)

• Juventus and Celtic are the only safe clubs on this section. No elimination for them.

• PSV and Brugge can be safe with a draw or win.

• All others really, really, really need to win to get in.

We’ve Hit the Reef (aka, Elimination. Failure. Go Home)

• Yes, that’s defending champions Manchester City you see. They need a win next week to be safe.

• Everyone from RB Leipzig to Young Boys are done.