The format for European competitions have radically changed for this season with the group stage changed to a league phase with UEFA hoping for greater unpredictability and more clashes between the ‘big’ clubs.
And yet, one Supercomputer has tipped two teams that have dominated the UCL for the past few years to reach the final, which will be held in Munich on May 31, 2025.
In the new format, all 36 teams will play eight different opponents from September to January, with results determining their position in one big league table.
Clubs in the top eight advance to the last-16 while those ranked ninth to 24th go into a play-off to determine who will join them, with the knockouts proceeding as normal.
The draw for the league phase has already been made, throwing up some spicy fixtures such as Manchester City vs Inter Milan, Arsenal vs PSG and Liverpool vs Bayer Leverkusen.
And there’s good news for the five British sides in the competition, as Grosvenor Sport’s Supercomputer has predicted that they will all reach the knockout phase, with one going onto lift the trophy.
But it won’t happen as you might expect, as City are tipped to finish in the top eight alongside Aston Villa who are competing in the Champions League for the first time since 1982/83.
Arsenal however are predicted to just miss out on a top-eight place and will go into the play-offs alongside Liverpool and Celtic but from here things get tricky as the knockout draw will of course not be made until the new year.
Regardless, the English sides have been tipped to advance but the Scottish champions Celtic will go no further thanks to a 4-3 aggregate defeat to PSV.
Predicted Champions League league phase table
- Real Madrid – 24pts
- Inter Milan – 22
- Bayern Munich – 22
- Barcelona – 19
- Man City – 18
- Atletico Madrid – 18
- Aston Villa – 17
- Atalanta – 16
- Monaco – 16
- Arsenal – 15
- Dortmund – 14
- PSV – 14
- Milan – 14
- Feyenoord – 14
- Leverkusen – 13
- Stuttgart – 13
- Girona – 11
- Liverpool – 10
- Juventus – 10
- Celtic – 9
- Sparta Praha – 9
- Benfica – 9
- RB Leipzig – 8
- PSG -8
Supercomputer prediction courtesy of Grosvenor Sport
Villa’s journey then comes to an end in the last-16 after a 5-4 aggregate loss to RB Leipzig.
In this prediction Liverpool knock Arsenal out in the quarter-finals by a scoreline of 4-2 only to lose to the old enemy Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
Reigning champions Madrid will then take on 2023 winners City in the final – the fourth year in a row that the two sides will have met in the competition – after the Citizens beat PSG, Barcelona and Leipzig in the knockouts.
This could be Pep Guardiola’s last season at the Etihad and it seems he’ll be going out on a high, with the Supercomputer tipping City to beat Los Blancos 2-0 in Munich.
We’ll see how much of this comes to pass with the Champions League league phase kicking off on September 17.
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