Guardiola says new Champions League format a lesson after Man City scrape through

Citizens mount comeback against Brugge; Madrid, Bayern, PSG, Milan and Juventus join them in playoffs; Lille win 6-1 to clinch place

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is not entirely sold on the new Champions League format after his team barely scraped through to the knockout round, but called the experience an “incredible lesson” for his team.

City came back from a goal down to beat Belgian side Club Brugge on Wednesday in a nerve-jangling must-win league phase finale, to finish 22nd in the table — three places above elimination.

“I would say I don't like [the new format], because we suffered a lot,” said Guardiola, whose team won just two of their first seven games to set up Wednesday's thriller.

“We were on the perch, 45 minutes to be out. It is an incredible lesson for me and the players that nothing is for granted.”

City face either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid in the two-legged knockout round, and while their form this season does not bode well against either of the European heavyweights, Guardiola said he will at least have some reinforcements.

New signings Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis were not eligible to play in the league phase, but can join the team for the knockout games in the second and third weeks of February. A handful of players may also return from injury.

“In two weeks we will be better,” Guardiola said. “Players will come back, we have new signings.”

Guardiola is also realistic in a season that has them an uncharacteristic fourth in the Premier League.

“I don't know if they are happy to play against us, it is what it is. One is the king of the competition, the other is the second or third king,” Guardiola said of Real Madrid, who have 15 Champions League titles and Bayern Munich, who have six.

“We are playing this competition with a thousand million problems. They are favourites — yes, they are better than us right now.”

City came from behind to beat Brugge 3-1, as big guns Real, Bayern Munich and Paris St Germain also won to progress, while AC Milan and Juventus will join them despite both losing on Wednesday night.

A goal-stacked night of 18 simultaneous kickoffs in the final group match day of the competition’s new format ended as the traditional format usually did too — with all the big guns still alive.

Liverpool and Barcelona were the only teams already guaranteed a place in the top eight and automatic progress to the round of 16 and they stayed first and second respectively despite Liverpool losing 3-2 to PSV Eindhoven and Barca drawing 2-2 with Atalanta.

Joining them are Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Aston Villa and Lille, who produced the performance of the night to thrash Feyenoord 6-1.

Though they eventually progressed reasonably comfortably, it was anything but for City at the Etihad. The 2023 European champions were exposed just before half time when Raphael Onyedika brilliantly finished off a sweeping Brugge move.

Mateo Kovacic pulled one back for City early in the second half but at that stage they were still heading out of the competition and they needed an own goal by Joel Ordonez to get the lead and then a third by Savinho to relax.

PSG, who were in 22nd place and in danger of missing out at kickoff, avoided a nervous night by racing into a 3-0 halftime lead at Stuttgart. Bradley Barcola opened the scoring and a hat-trick for in-form Ousmane Dembele completed the 4-1 win.

It was the same score for Atletico Madrid at Salzburg. The visitors were helped by two goals for Antoine Griezmann.

Lautaro Martinez got all three goals for Inter Milan in their 3-0 victory over Monaco, who had Christian Mawissa sent off after 12 minutes, but still made the playoffs.

Arsenal came from behind to win 2-1 at Girona and rubber-stamp their third-placed finish, while Leverkusen also avoided the two-legged play-offs by beating Sparta Prague 2-0 to finish sixth.

Lille began the day in 12th but ended in seventh after thumping Feyenoord, who contributed a remarkable three own goals to those scored by Osame Sahraoui, Jonathan David and Remy Cabella.

Real secured their playoff slot with a 3-0 win over Brest courtesy of two goals from Rodrygo and another by Jude Bellingham.

It was a second successive defeat for Brest but their flying start to the campaign proved enough for them to make the playoffs.

Aston Villa led Celtic 2-0 with two Morgan Rogers goals inside the first five minutes but two for Adam Idah made it level at half time.

Ollie Watkins, who missed a penalty, then restored the lead and Rogers completed his hat-trick at the death to lift Villa into the top eight

AC Milan began the day in sixth but goals by Martin Baturina and Marko Pjaca combined with an early red card for gave Dinamo Zagreb a 2-1 that dropped the Italians into the playoff, but still left Zagreb missing out on joining them by one place on goal difference.

Bayern beat Slovan Bratislava 3-1 with goals by Thomas Mueller, Harry Kane and Kingsley Coman while Benfica had an impressive 2-0 win at Juventus, a result that left both teams in the playoffs.

The draw for the two-legged next stage takes place on Friday, where, unlike in previous years, teams from the same country and group can meet. Those games will be played on February 11 and 12 and 18 and 19 and the eight winners will then meet the eight top-ranked teams from the group stage in the round of 16 — with the seeded draw for that made on February 21.

The final is in Munich on May 31. 

Wednesday night's Champions League league phase final round results:

Young Boys 0 Crvena Zvezda 1

Stuttgart 1 Paris St Germain 4

Sporting CP 1 Bologna 1

SK Sturm Graz 1 RB Leipzig 0

PSV Eindhoven 3 Liverpool 2

Manchester City 3 Club Brugge 1

LOSC Lille 6 Feyenoord 1

Juventus 0 SL Benfica 2

Inter Milan 3 Monaco 0

Girona 1 Arsenal 2

RB Salzburg 1 Atletico Madrid 4

Bayern Munich 3 SK Slovan Bratislava 1

Dinamo Zagreb 2 AC Milan 1

Brest 0 Real Madrid 3

Dortmund 3 Shakhtar Donetsk 1

Leverkusen 2 Sparta Prague 0

Barcelona 2 Atalanta 2

Aston Villa 4 Celtic 2

Reuters