Last week, after the end of the Champions League group stage matches, Champions League found their last 16 of the season 2018/19. Total 32 teams from Europe's top leagues were classified into the 8 groups from A to H. The each group comprised of 4 teams. The winners and the runner-up teams from each group have passed into the round of 16 of the competition while the third-place team from each group will get the opportunity to play in the round of 32 of Europa League. The round of 16 draws of Champions League will be held tomorrow in Nyon, Switzerland(headquarter of UEFA) and the Round of 32 draws of Europa League will also be held tomorrow 1 hour after the UEFA Champions League round of 16 draws at headquarter of UEFA in Switzerland.
Just like in every season, this season also group stage games produced some quite astonishing results to the big teams. If we look at some shocking results of the Champions League 2018/19 group stage matches there are a lot of results where the small team upsets some of the competition favourite team. The 4 times in last 5 Champions League winning team Real Madrid topped their group despite losing at Santiago Bernabeu(0-3) and Luzhniki stadium against CSKA Moscow(1-0) while CSKA Moscow can't book their place for a round of 16 despite winning both games against Real Madrid. The Swiss team Young Boys shocked the Juventus in the final group stage game and forced Juventus to taste the first loss of the season. The Serbian champion Red Star Belgrade win over last season Champions League finalist Liverpool was also one of the astounding results of the group stage matches.
When the top teams from Europe were struggling to book their place for the round of 16 of the competition, some teams played brilliant football in the round group stage and went into the round of 16 without losing a game. Let's have a look on these team's Journey so far
FC Porto
The current and 28 times Portugeses League winner FC Porto was in Group D along with the German club FC Schalke, Turkish club Galatasaray and Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow. FC Porto started their group stage game with a 1-1 draw at Veltins Arena in German. Then they registered 5 consecutive wins in their remaining group stage matches and qualified for the round of 16 as a group D winner. They gained 16 points from possible 18 and went into the round of 16 along with group second FC Schalke.
FC Bayern Munich
When It's come to winning the Champions League, current and record 27-time Bundesliga winning team Bayern Munich is considered as one of the favourite candidates to win the Champions League. Despite struggling this season in Bundesliga under a new manager Niko Kovac, Bayern topped their Champions League group without losing a single game. Bayern was in Group E along with Portuguese team Benfica, Dutch club Ajax and the Greek club AEK Athens. Bayern started their group game with a 2-0 win over Benfica at Estadio da Luz in Portugal and also won in reverse fixture at Allianz Arena by 5-1. The German giant won their both home and away game over AEK Athens and played both home (1-1) and away (3-3) games draw against Ajax. Bayern Munich earned 14 points from 6 games and went into the round of 16 with group second Ajax.
FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona is another big name this season to pass through a group stage without losing their match. Despite having Europe's best teams in their group stage, they managed to top their group without losing a match. Barcelona was in the Group B with Italian club Inter Milan, English club Tottenham Hotspur and Dutch club PSV Eindhoven. Barcelona started their group game with a 4-0 win over PSV at home and also won the reverse fixture against PSV at Philips Stadion by 2-1. They won both home and away game against Italian club Inter Milan. Despite winning in away match over Tottenham at Wembley stadium by 4-2, they played a 1-1 draw in their final group stage at home. They went to the round of 16 carrying 14 points from 6 games along with the group runner-up Tottenham.
Olympic Lyon
Olympic Lyon surprisingly went into a round of 16 of Champions League without losing a single game in their group stage matches. The greatest surprise we see when they became the first team this season to beat current Premier League champion Manchester City in their opening group stage match by 2-1 at Etihad Stadium. In Group F, German club Hoffenheim and Ukranian club Shakhtar Donetsk were in the group with Manchester City and Olympic Lyon. The French team played 5 consecutive draws in all of their remaining group matches. The 8 points from 6 games helped Lyon to reach into the round of 16 as a runner-up of Group F along with group topper Manchester City.
Ajax
Ajax is the second team from Group E to qualified for the round of 16 without losing the group stage match. When the team like Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint Germain failed to keep the unbeaten run in the group stage matches, Ajax didn't lose a single group game despite having the German giant Bayern Munich in the same group. Ajax was in Group E with Bayern Munich, AEK Athens and Benfica. The record 33 times Eredivisie Champion Ajax started their campaign with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Greek club AEK Athens at home and also won the reverse fixture by 2-0. They played both games draw with German giant Bayern Munich and against Benfica, they won at home by 1-0 while played 1-1 draw in away match at Estadio da Luz. Both Bayern Munich(group top) and Ajax (runner-up) went into the round of 16 remaining unbeaten in the competition.
The Prediction contest is running by @cayelispor53 here for Round of 16 draws, you coin join there. My Prediction for tomorrow's Round of draw of Champions League is as
(Group winner- Runner-up)
- Dortmund - Liverpool
- Barcelona - Ajax
- PSG - Tottenham
- Porto - Manchester United
- Bayern Munich - Atletico Madrid
- Manchester City - AS Roma
- Real Madrid - Olympic Lyon
- Juventus - Schalke
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