After the 5th round, some teams even earlier have qualified for the group stage. In the final round in midweek, the Champions League will see many procedural matches even though the representatives are all excellent (for example, the clash between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan).
With the tables packed, fans' interest will turn to the competition for tickets to the Europa League play-off. The Champions League's order calculation rules will prioritize head-to-head record, then the goal/goal goal difference, so the situation may be very unpredictable this week.
The teams that have passed the group stage include: Bayern Munich * Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea * Club Brugge, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Manchester City * Napoli, PSG, FC Porto and Real Madrid (the team with the * mark) are sure to keep the top spot.
The remaining teams that can enter the round of 16 include: Tottenham, Sporting Lisbon, Eintracht Frankfurt, Marseille, AC Milan, RB Salzburg, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk.
The teams are sure to be in 3rd place and win tickets to the Europa League play-offs including Barcelona and Sevilla.
The remaining teams that have been eliminated but still have a chance to play in the Europa League play-offs include: Ajax Armsterdam, Atletico Madrid, Dinamo Zagreb, Juventus, Leverkusen, Maccabi Haifa and Rangers.
Napoli and Liverpool are the two teams that have advanced. As for Napoli, they must avoid losing by 3 goals or more against Liverpool in the final round to keep their top spot. Or in other words, Liverpool must beat Napoli by 4 goals or more.
For Ajax, if they do not lose to Rangers in the final round, the Europa League play-off ticket will be awarded. Meanwhile, Rangers must beat the Dutch representative by 5 goals or more to qualify for the play-off.
Brugge and FC Porto have advanced, they need to win in the final round to ensure their ambition. However, it's okay if they fail.
Meanwhile, if Atletico want to play in the Europa League play-off, they must beat Porto to have the right to decide.
This is the most difficult group to compete in even though it was labeled "death" after the draw ceremony. Bayern are sure to top the group, Inter are second, Barca are behind and Plzen are last regardless of any result after the final round.
For Spurs, the English representative will enter the round of 16 just need to win at least 1 point against Marseille. Meanwhile, Frankfurt need to beat Sporting to decide their own way to the next round.
The same situation will be Marseille. The French team's current bottom position forced them to beat Tottenham at home to secure a ticket to the round of 16.
Chelsea are sure to advance, so how they play against Zagreb will greatly affect the ambitions of the opponent from Croatia. If Zagreb beat Chelsea away, they could win a ticket to the Europa League play-off.
In the remaining match, at home at San Siro, AC Milan only needed to draw with Salzburg to get a ticket to the round of 16. The visiting team from Austria will not be able to fall to 4th place if they do not lose to Milan.
Los Blancos' task of keeping the top spot is too easy, they only need to beat the bottom team, Celtic (which has definitely stopped) at home at Bernabeu. Meanwhile, at home, Shakhtar had to beat Leipzig to secure a ticket to the next round.
This is a group with a similar situation to Group C when the positions have been decided. The order is Man City, Dortmund, Sevilla and Copenhagen respectively.
PSG and Benfica are now certain to enter the round of 16 but it is not yet possible to determine which team will be in the top of the group. If PSG beat Jvuentus, the French team will have that. In the context that Benfica could not help but win against Maccabi Haifa, PSG need to solve the condition of self-determination.
Similar to the elimination group, Juventus and Maccabi have to compete for a place in the Europa League play-off. It sounds surprising, but the "Old Lady" currently has only 3 points, equal to Maccabi and lost to this Israeli team in the 4th match.
