Champions League Pool Winners
Who Won Their Pools?
J.T. Mott
With the pool stages of the Champions League ending, we are giving you an evaluation of our predictions of who would go through each pool, and who goes to the Europa League.
Pool A
In pool A, we predicted that Liverpool and Ajax would progress, however, we were wrong with this as Napoli and Liverpool went through. Both teams only lost one game out of the six. Ajax, having only won two games, is progressing to the Europa League and Rangers has been knocked out after losing every game.
Pool B
In pool B, we predicted that Porto and Club Brugge would progress with Athletico going into the Europa League and Leverkusen being knocked out. Both Porto and Club Brugge have progressed as predicted, however, Leverkusen has made it to the Europa League instead of Athletico.
Pool C
For pool C it was predicted that Barcelona and Bayer Munich would progress with Inter Milan and Viktoria Plzen fighting it out for the place in the Europa League. However, Bayer Munich and Inter have progressed leaving Barcelona to go into the Europa League. This is a surprise as Barcelona is topping the La Liga with two more wins than Real Madrid. With Inter coming seventh in Serie A, below Juventus.
Pool D
Pool D was predicted to have Tottenham and Marseille progress, however, Tottenham and Frankfurt progressed; leaving Marseille and Sporting. Sporting was relegated to the Europa League with Marseille being removed from the competition.
Pool E
Chelsea and Milan were predicted to win group E and ended up doing so. With Read Bull Salzburg being relegated to the Europa League and Dinamo Zagreb being removed from competition. Winning only one game from six with one draw.
Pool F
Last year’s winner Real Madrid was predicted to reach Pool F with Red Bull Leipzig coming second. This was proven true with Shakhtar being moved into the Europa League. Celtic managed to draw two games out of the six, losing the rest. However, this is a good result for them, with the other teams’ budget being many times larger.
Pool G
City was in a pool with Dortmund and Sevilla, this pool was one of the most competitive, with City and Dortmund progressing after winning four and two games respectively. Sevilla progressed to the Europa league with Copenhagen being removed from the competition.
Pool H
In Pool H, there were even more giants with PSG, Juventus, and Benfica. It was predicted that PSG and Juventus would progress, with Benfica moving to the Europa league. This was off, with Benfica topping the league, however, just on goal difference after tying in points with PSG. Thus, leaving Juventus to be moved into the Europa league.
Round of 16
With the top two teams now having progressed to the round of 16, these games are getting harder to call as the teams are the best in the world. It is likely that City will win the round against Leipig, as they are winning the premier league and won last year. Club Brugge is playing Benfica, and it is likely that Benfica will win as they are currently winning the Primeira Liga. With Liverpool playing Real Madrid it is another hard call as Liverpool playing well can beat almost anyone, however they are inconsistent, because of this it is likely that Real will win. With Milan playing Tottenham, it is likely that Milan will win as they are currently second in Serie A, whereas Tottenham is fourth in the Premier League. Frankfurt is playing Napoli and it is likely that Napoli will win as they topped their pool and beat Liverpool in the pool stage. Dortmund is playing Chelsea, and it is likely that Chelsea will win as they are doing well playing the Champions League so far and beat Milan in the pool stage. Porto is playing Inter and it is likely that Inter would win as they are currently second in the Primeira Liga, whereas Inter is fourth in Serie A and are playing some of the best football in the competition. PSG is playing Bayern and it is likely that Bayern will win as PSG has some of the best players in the world, however, they do not work well as a team.