Champions League standings: Inter fourth, possible opponents
Team
— Jan 30th 2025Inter will face either the winner of AC Milan vs. Feyenoord or the winner of Juventus vs. PSV in the round of 16
The evening of Champions League action, with 18 matches at one time, on Wednesday 29 January put an end to the League Phase, defining the standings from first to 36th place. Inter, after beating Monaco 3-0, finished in fourth spot, behind Liverpool, Barcelona and Arsenal. This means that the Nerazzurri have advanced directly to the Champions League Round of 16, where they will face one of AC Milan, Juventus, Feyenoord or PSV. On Friday 31 January, the knockout phase play-off draw for the teams who finished between ninth and 24th position took place. It determined two ties that are of interest to the Nerazzurri: Juventus will face PSV, while AC Milan will come up against Feyenoord. Once the play-offs have taken place, another draw will be held where one of the two winning teams from these two ties will be paired with Inter.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: LEAGUE PHASE STANDINGS
Liverpool 21
Barcelona 19
Arsenal 19
Inter 19
Atletico Madrid 18
Bayer Leverkusen 16
Aston Villa 16
Lille 16 ———————————
Atalanta 15
Borussia Dortmund 15
Real Madrid 15
Bayern Munich 15
AC Milan 15
PSV Eindhoven 14
PSG 13
Benfica 13
Monaco 13
Brest 13
Feyenoord 13
Juventus 12
Celtic 12
Manchester City 11
Sporting Lisbon 11
Club Brugge 11 ———————————
Dinamo Zagreb 11
Stuttgart 10
Shakhtar Donetsk 7
Bologna 6
Crvena Zvezda 6
Sturm Graz 6
Sparta Praha 4
RB Leipzig 3
Girona 3
RB Salzburg 3
Slovan Bratislava 0
Young Boys 0
THE BRACKET
After the end of the League Phase, the Champions League will restart with the direct-elimination phase, carried out as usual with home and away legs. The top eight have directly advanced to the last-16 (Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter, Atletico, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa), while the teams between 9th and 24th position will participate in a play-off round. The tournament will continue with a tennis-style bracket: the teams finishing between ninth and 16th will be seeded in the first round of elimination and will face a team who finished between 17th and 24th position. The seeded team, in line with the rules, will play the second leg at home. The final ranking positions will determine the possible matches in the direct elimination phase according to a pre-determined pattern. For example, the teams that finished in ninth and tenth place will face the teams who finished in 23rd or 24th place and the teams who finish in eleventh or twelfth place will be drawn against the teams in 21st or 22nd place and so on. This was the outcome of the knockout phase play-off draw that took place on Friday in Nyon:
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PLAY-OFFS First leg 11-12 March, second leg 18-19 March Celtic vs. Bayern Munich Monaco vs. Benfica Brest vs. PSG Club Brugge vs. Atalanta Sporting CP vs. Borussia Dortmund Feyenoord vs. AC Milan Juventus vs. PSV Manchester City vs. Real Madrid The winners of these ties will qualify for the last 16 of the competition, where they will face one of the top eight sides from the League Phase.
Once the eight play-off winning teams have been confirmed, the final draw to determine the final composition of the tournament until the final will take place on Friday 21 February. The procedure will follow the same rules as the draw for the knockout ties: the teams will face each other based off of the pre-determined pattern based off the final positions in the standings of the League Phase.
Having finished fourth, Inter will face either the winner of AC Milan vs. Feyenoord or the winner of Juventus vs. PSV. It is yet to be determined which tie will be paired with Inter and which tie will be paired with Arsenal (who finished third). Only after the play-offs will Inter (and Arsenal) discover their opponents.
Inter will play their round of 16 tie on 4-5 March (first leg) and 11-12 March (second leg at home).