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Champions League round of 16 field set

By Jake Walerius

FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi (10) during the match between FC Barcelona - Sporting CP, for the group stage, round 6 of the Champions League, held at Camp Nou Stadium on 5th December 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
FC Barcelona forward Lionel Messi (10) during the match between FC Barcelona - Sporting CP, for the group stage, round 6 of the Champions League, held at Camp Nou Stadium on 5th December 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images) /
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The Champions League group stage came to a close on Wednesday. The field for the round of 16 draw is now set.

The Champions League group stage came to close on Wednesday, as Liverpool, Sevilla, Shakhtar and Porto became the final teams to book their place in the knockout rounds. The field for the round of 16 draw, which will take place on Monday, Dec. 11, is now set:

GROUP WINNERS

Manchester City
PSG
Barcelona
Manchester United
Tottenham
Roma
Besiktas
Liverpool

RUNNERS-UP

Bayern Munich
Real Madrid
Chelsea
Juventus
Basel
Sevilla
Shakhtar
Porto

There wasn’t much intrigue left heading into Wednesday’s game, but Group E was still up in the air, with Liverpool, Sevilla and Spartak all capable of winning the group. Napoli and Shakhtar in Group F, and Porto and RB Leipzig in Group G, were fighting for qualification as well.

Liverpool put any doubt about their qualification to rest quickly, scoring three goals early in the first half, while Porto and Shakhtar also both ran out to big first-half leads, which ultimately saw them through.

The biggest teams to miss out are Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, in a terrible run of form after a good start to the season, and Napoli, whose loss to Shakhtar in the first group game proved decisive.

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Those three sides, plus CSKA Moscow, Celtic, Sporting, Spartak and RB Leipzig, will enter the Europa League round of 32 draw, which takes place after the Champions League draw in Nyon, Switzerland, on Monday.

With Roma and Tottenham upsetting Chelsea and Real Madrid, respectively, to win their groups, and PSG squeaking ahead of Bayern thanks to their head-to-head record, the pool of runners-up looks almost as good as the pool of group winners.

While teams from the same country can’t face each other in the round of 16 (meaning no El Clasico until at least the quarters), the final group standings leave the door open for some heavyweight matchups in the first knockout round.

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