Real Madrid, Paris-Saint Germain and Manchester City avoid Champions League banana skins ahead of Friday’s draw.
Holders Real Madrid made sure they would be seeded for Friday’s Champions League playoff draw by beating Stade Brest 3-0 away in the last round of the first phase.
Rodrygo scored the first and last goals after 26 and 78 minutes respectively on Wednesday, while Jude Bellingham netted the second in the 56th following a smart pass from Lucas Vazquez.
Despite the loss, Brest will also feature in the two-legged playoffs as an unseeded team in their first European campaign.
Real reached the Champions League knockout phase for the 28th consecutive year and extended their winning streak to five matches in all competitions.
Manchester City flirted with a disastrous exit from the Champions League before rallying to beat Club Brugge 3-1 in a must-win game to advance to the knockout phase.
City trailed 1-0 at halftime, and sat 26th in the 36-team standings before the 2023 title-winner was sparked by substitute Savinho to avoid elimination. City finished 22nd.
Paris Saint-Germain also secured its place in the top-24 teams and will enter the knockout playoffs rounds, winning 4-1 at Stuttgart to eliminate the German club.
PSG impressed again after a crucial 4-2 comeback win over Man City one week ago and rose to 15th place. That puts PSG on a path to meet Liverpool or Barcelona in the round of 16 in March if it wins an all-French playoff against Monaco or Brest.
Bayern Munich also finished outside the top eight despite winning their last game 3-1 against Slovan Bratislava.
Only the top eight teams go directly to the round of 16, and Bayern finished 10th – one place ahead of defending champions, Real. One of those two will be drawn against City on Friday.
Inter Milan, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid sealed top-eight finishes as expected – joining Liverpool and Barcelona advancing directly to the round of 16 – with low-key wins. Inter beat Monaco 3-0, Arsenal won 2-1 at Girona and Atletico won 4-1 at Salzburg, which had a woeful campaign.
Bayer Leverkusen, Lille – which thrashed Feyenoord 6-1 – and Aston Villa completed the top eight.
Stuttgart dropped to 26th place and was eliminated along with Dinamo Zagreb, despite its 2-1 win over AC Milan. Brugge took the 24th qualification place ahead of Dinamo on the tiebreaker of goal difference.
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