Liverpool top table, Manchester City manage to enta play off for Champions League

Pep Guardiola and im Manchester City side avoid wetin for be ogbonge embarrassment as dem manage to beat Club Brugge 3-1 for dia last match for di league phase of dis year Uefa Champions League.

Dis win help City finish 22 for di league table, just two places above di last qualification position, as dem manage to qualify for di play off stage to see weda dem fit reach di round of 16.

Guardiola boys manage only a disappointing 11 points wit only three wins and three draws for dia eight matches of di Champions League first round.

Meanwhile, Arne Slot and im Liverpool team finish on top of di league even though dem lose dia final match 3-2 against PSV Eindhoven for di Netherlands.

Barcelona 2-2 draw wit Atalanta mean say di Nou Camp side no fit take advantage of Liverpool loss to jump into first position; di Spanish giants finish second.

Arsenal also qualify automatically for di round of 16 after dem beat Girona 2-1 for Spain to finish third on di table.

Di same tin wit Aston Villa who beat Celtic 3-2 for Villa Park to occupy di last qualification position of eighth.

Altogether, three English teams, two Spanish, and one team each from Italy, Germany and France make am into di top eight wey be di automatic qualification position for di round of 16.

E shock many pipo say big names like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, PSG, Manchester City, and AC Milan no qualify automatically.

Below na how di league phase of di new Champions League format take end:

Di new Champions League format

First, make we remind ourself of wetin di 36 league-phase teams dey aim for.

Those wey finish for di top eight go automatically progress to di last 16, wia dem go seed dem.

Dem go wait for di winners of di eight two-legged knockout play-off ties wey go feature di clubs wey rank from ninth to 24th.

Those wey finish between ninth and 16th dem go seed dem and dem go face teams wey dey placed 17th to 24th, wit di advantage of playing di second leg at home.

Di clubs 25th or lower don chop elimination and dem no go get entry to di Europa League.

Di play-off ties go take place mid-February, while di last-16 matches go happun for di first two weeks of March.

Next round format

Dis new Champions League format dey work?

One of Uefa reasons for changing to dis format na to make "every game count".

Dem say di format "go ensure say any result get di potential to dramatically change a team position, right up to and including di very last matchday".

And so, e don play out wit only two dead rubbers (Sturm Graz v Leipzig and Young Boys v Red Star Belgrade) and 16 games wit something on di line.

E get several games wia both clubs dey battle for di same goal, like Manchester City v Club Brugge, Stuttgart v PSG, Brest v Real Madrid and Inter Milan v Monaco.

E fit lead to enjoyable mayhem for fans wit some teams potentially wey go dey affected by more dan 10 oda games. Aston Villa, for example, fit overtake six teams or 15 teams fit overtake dem (although not all 15) - including opponents Celtic.

Another reason Uefa give for the new format na to ensure more matches between di top teams in di initial stages of di tournament.

Dis year don see Real Madrid face Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool in repeats of three recent finals, and Barcelona play Bayern Munich, while Paris St-Germain don face Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City.

How many points teams need to qualify?

Wetin be di financial impact of teams position?

Failing to qualify for di next round go hit teams financially.

Every club for di league phase go get 18.62m euros for participating, wit performance bonuses of 2.1m euros per win and 700,000 euros per draw.

Each position for di table dey worth 275,000 euros, too. So di team wey finish 36th earn dis much, 35th go claim 550,000 euros through to 9.9m euros for di table-toppers.

Teams wey finish first to eighth also go earn 2m euros bonus, while teams wey finish ninth to 16th go get 1m euros.

Uefa also introduce a "value pillar" wey go split di broadcast revenue. Dis again go increase depending on your finishing position for di league phase.

Dat na bifor dem take into account matchday revenue and oda factors.

In oda words, e dey costly to chop elimination early.

Champions League knockouts prize money