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Champions League Power Rankings: Manchester City climb but look far from contenders; Liverpool top table

Written by on January 30, 2025

Champions League Power Rankings: Manchester City climb but look far from contenders; Liverpool top table

Champions League Power Rankings: Manchester City climb but look far from contenders; Liverpool top table

Here’s how all the teams rank at the conclusion of the league phase

CBS Sports

The league phase of Champions League has come to a close and Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain avoided disaster by securing their spots in the knockout stage. Buoyed by hat tricks from Morgan Rogers, Lautaro Martinez, and Ousmane Dembele, it was a wild final day featuring many exciting goals across the board. It was a wild day but also one that didn’t include as many surprises as it could have, but intriguing action awaits with the knockout stages beginning next month. 

Don’t miss any of the Champions League. As always, you can catch all of our coverage across Paramount+CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo Network all season long.

Before our rankings only include the 24 remaining, let’s take a look at how things shifted at the close of the league phase:

RankTeamChangeAnalysis
1LiverpoolJust too many games in quick succession, Liverpool had to rotate, leading to their first loss in the league phase. They still finished atop the table so it won’t matter too much.
2BarcelonaIf this weren’t the league phase, Barcelona may have left their starters out for longer,  but a draw against Atalanta is more than fine.
3ArsenalGirona pushed despite being out of UCL, but Arsenal secured their place in the top eight with the second fewest goals conceded in UCL play.secofewestnd-
4InterLautaro Martinez’s first UCL hat trick. It may have come against 10 men, but if he can stay hot, look out.
5Atletico MadridFacing RB Salzburg, it was clear what was going to happen, but Atletico Madrid made sure it was no contest by halftime.
6AtalantaUnfortunate to fall out of the top eight of Champions League, but Atalanta will still be in a good position avoiding City and PSG in the playoff stage.
7Bayer LeverkusenFlorian Wirtz scores, Bayer Leverkusen win. Clockwork.
8Lille+5Boy, Lille rolled into the top eight with six goals. Look out, this is a confident side.
9Bayern MunichOnly keeping two clean sheets in Champions League play is something that could quickly catch up to Bayern in the knockouts.
10Paris Saint-Germain+2If PSG can get this version of Ousmane Dembele weekly, there’s no stopping what they can do in this tournament. In a do-or-die match, the Frenchman scored his first-ever Champions League hat trick as PSG cruised into the knockout stage.
11Aston Villa+3Morgan Rogers was one of the other hat trick heroes in UCL this week as Villa snuck their way into the top eight.
12Real Madrid-1There’s a chance that Real Madrid vs. Manchester City could be a knockout stage match. How is that not a semifinal?
13Monaco-5After an early red Monaco fell victim to the Inter buzzsaw. Gotta put it in the rearview.
14Milan-4Having a chance at the top eight, it was a disappointment for Yunus Musah to receive two yellow cards in eight minutes but Christian Pulisic became the first American to score four goals in a UCL campaign.
15Borussia Dortmund+3Gio Reyna’s assist wasn’t enough to push Dortmund to the top eight but in what has been a poor domestic season, this team is still getting the job done in UCL.
16PSV+3Ricardo Pepi netted a goal and an assist in a bumper day for Americans.
17Brest-1They gave Real Madrid their all but this has been a debut UCL to remember for Brest, and they could get PSG in an intriguing knockout round.
18Juventus-3Thiago Motta’s seat has to be getting hot, right? Three draws and a loss in their last five UCL matches, blowing any chance to make the top eight.
19Manchester City+5Despite going into the half trailing by a goal, Manchester City managed avoid an absolute disaster in falling out of UCL completely. Savinho helped change the game.
20Benfica+5Four goals in his last two Champions League matches for Vangelis Pavlidis and getting past Juventus was critical to keep Benfica alive.
21Feyenoord-4Coming in with a chance to make the top eight, Santiago Gimenez got injured and Feyenoord proceeded to concede six goals
22CelticThe reward for a strong league phase is either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid. Oof.
23Sporting Club LisbonPost Ruben Amorim, this campaign has been nothing short of a underwhelming, going winless in their last four Champions League matches. Sporting did just enough to advance without VIktor Gyokeres.
24Dinamo Zagreb+2Defeating Milan wasn’t enough for Zagreb, but it was still a strong league phase for the Croatian side.
25Club Brugge-4Job done in making the knockout round playoffs for the Belgian side. Club Brugge used to be UCL regulars and they’re finally on the road back.
26Crvena zvezda+2Securing a win to move up the table will be important for prize money.
27VfB Stuttgart-7Too little too late and missing Alexander Nubel led to an absolute thrashing at home.
28Girona-1Almost doesn’t cut it, but Girona did cause some trouble for Arsenal.
29Shakhtar DonetskThe Ukrainian side did their best to stand up to Dortmund, it just wasn’t enough.
30BolognaAfter losing everything over the summer from their manager to key players, even getting a win in their inaugural Champions League campaign is important.
31SK Sturm Graz+2They weren’t the worst Austrian side in UCL.
32RB Leipzig+1RB Leipzig are fifth in the Bundesliga table but finished 32nd in the league phase. What a disappointment.
33Sparta Praha-1Everything fell apart after a strong start, losing five consecutive matches.
34RB SalzburgNo one expected this team to hang with Atletico Madrid as RB Salzburg still managed to disappoint.
35Slovan Bratislava+1Considering the circumstances, the match was closer than expected but conceding a joint-high 27 goals during the league phase isn’t how Slovan expected their UCL debut to go.
36Young Boys-1Finishing bottom of the first-ever league phase is history, just not the kind that you want to make.

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The post Champions League Power Rankings: Manchester City climb but look far from contenders; Liverpool top table first appeared on OKC Sports Radio.


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