AC Milan and Atalanta miss out as Aston Villa and Lille squeeze through

AC Milan and Atalanta slipped out of the automatic qualifying places for the Champions League round of 16 tonight as Aston Villa and Lille replaced them in the top eight.

Milan started the day in sixth place but went down 2-1 at Dinamo Zagreb. Martin Baturina’s 19th-minute goal put the hosts in front and the dismissal of Yunus Musah six minutes before the break made things even harder for the Rossoneri.

Christian Pulisic equalised eight minutes into the second half only for Marko Pjaca to win it for the home side on the hour mark.

Atalanta produced a batting display against Barcelona but a 2-2 draw was not enough.

Lamine Yamal and Ronald Araujo netted for Hansi Flick’s side with Ederson and Mario Pasalic on target for the Europa League winners.

Liverpool take the top spot 📈
Aston Villa secure automatic qualification ✅
Man City are in the play-off stages 🤝

Your 2024/25 Champions League phase standings 📊 pic.twitter.com/aumSJ16bkv

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 29, 2025

Rogers downs Celtic

Atalanta would have been hoping for a Celtic win at Villa Park but it was not to be as a Morgan Rogers hat-trick was the inspiration behind the home side’s 4-2 win.

Lille produced an even more emphatic win, hammering Feyenoord 6-1 with Gernot Trauner scoring two own goals.

Manchester City got the win they needed to secure a playoff place, hitting back from 1-0 down at half-time to beat Club Brugge 3-1 thanks to efforts from Mateo Kovacic and Savinho either side of a Joel Ordonez own goal. 

Club Brugge did enough earlier in the competition to also qualify.

Stuttgart were the side to miss out after a 4-1 defeat at home to rejuvenated Paris Saint-Germain, for whom Ousmane Dembele scored a hat-trick.

Liverpool finish top

Liverpool finished top despite losing 3-2 at PSV Eindhoven, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott on target for a much-changed Liverpool side.

Rodrygo scored twice and Jude Bellingham once as Real Madrid won 3-0 at Brest while Harry Kane was among the scorers as Bayern Munich beat Slovan Bratislava 3-1.

Automatic qualifiers for the round of 16

Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, Aston Villa

Playoff seeded teams

Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, Bayern. Munich, AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica 

Playoff unseeded teams

Monaco, Brest, Feyenoord, Juventus, Celtic, Manchester City, Sporting CP, Club Brugge

Eliminated

Dinamo Zagreb, Stuttgart, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bologna, Red Star Belgrade, Sturm Graz, Sparta Prague, RB Leipzig, Girona, Salzburg, Slovan Bratislava, Young Boys