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

Manchester City survived quite a scare Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League, and secured a place in the knockout rounds with a come-from-behind victory over Club Brugge.

As fellow European superclubs advanced with ease on a chaotic final day of this inaugural “league phase,” City, in a must-win game at home, conceded late in the first half, then charged back to win 3-1.

Savinho’s goal spread relief around a previously-stunned Etihad Stadium. But it was not much of a reprieve, because City will now face either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the first knockout round.

Elsewhere, PSG smashed Stuttgart to qualify comfortably.

Dinamo Zagreb upset AC Milan, and nearly snuck into the top 24, but perished along with Stuttgart when Sporting Clube de Portugal snatched a late goal to draw Bologna and advance.

At the other end of the single table, which fluctuated constantly throughout 18 simultaneous games, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atlético Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa won and clinched byes to the Round of 16, joining Barcelona and Liverpool.

Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund also won, but fell short of the top eight, and will enter the playoff round — which will feature the teams placed 9-24.

And in that playoff round, there will be at least one clash of giants, because the final Champions League table, after all was said and done, looked like this:

1. Liverpool
2. Barcelona
3. Arsenal
4. Inter Milan
5. Atlético Madrid
6. Bayer Leverkusen
7. Lille
8. Aston Villa

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9. Atalanta
10. Borussia Dortmund
11. Real Madrid
12. Bayern Munich
13. AC Milan
14. PSV Eindhoven
15. PSG
16. Benfica
17. Monaco
18. Brest
19. Feyenoord
20. Juventus
21. Celtic
22. Manchester City
23. Sporting CP
24. Club Brugge
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Eliminated: Dinamo Zagreb, Stuttgart, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bologna, Sparta Praha, RB Leipzig, Girona, Red Star Belgrade, Sturm Graz, RB Salzburg, Slovan Bratislava, BSC Young Boys

Champions League knockout round bracket takes shape

There will be clashes of giants because, in this revamped Champions League format, teams will be seeded and drawn into a bracket, rather than learning their opponents round by round.

That bracket will begin to take shape at Friday’s playoff draw, but the new seeding system has already whittle each team’s list of possible opponents down to two:

The entire 24-team field will essentially be divided into 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.

The more immediate impact, though, is on the playoff matchups, which will be:

• Atalanta/Borussia Dortmund vs. Sporting CP/Club Brugge

• Real Madrid/Bayern Munich vs. Celtic/Manchester City

• AC Milan/PSV Eindhoven vs. Feyenoord/Juventus

• PSG/Benfica vs. Monaco/Brest

There are no restrictions on teams from the same country meeting at any stage, which means that Friday’s draw could deliver AC Milan-Juventus, in addition to PSG against a French rival.

And in the Round of 16, Bayern Munich could face Leverkusen; Real Madrid could face Atleti; Juve or AC Milan could face Inter. Liverpool or Barcelona, despite claiming top seeds, could open in the Round of 16 against PSG.

That next phase of the bracket will take shape at a draw on February 21. The playoffs are in mid-February.

A blow-by-blow recap of Wednesday’s frantic action is below.