With the first leg of Champions League playoff matches in the books, we have a pretty good idea of which teams might be advancing and which teams have an uphill climb to reach the Group of 16.
But before we project which teams will advance, let’s review the scores from Tuesday and Wednesday:
At this point, it’s a pretty safe bet that Galatasaray and Newcastle are moving on, while Real Madrid, PSG, Atlético Madrid and Leverkusen will all have the advantage of being at home for the second leg, putting them in strong position as well. Inter Milan will also be at home, though overcoming a two-goal deficit in aggregate is no small task.
At this point, we’ll predict that Galatasaray, Newcastle, Real Madrid, PSG, Atlético Madrid, Leverkusen, Inter Milan (likely in dramatic fashion) and Borussia Dortmund will advance.
The first eight seeds are already locked in place from the league phase, with five coming from the Premier League:
Arsenal and Bayern Munich will be paired with the winners from the Leverkusen-Olympiacos and Dortmund-Atalanta matchups during the Round of 16 draw. You can see the full possible bracket here.
Liverpool and Tottenham will draw from the winners of the Galatasaray-Juventus and Brugge-Atlético matchups.
Barcelona and Chelsea will draw from the winners of the PSG-Monaco and Newcastle-Qarabağ matchups.
And finally, Sporting and Manchester City will draw from the winners of the Real Madrid-Benfica and Bodø/Glimt-Inter matchups.
