Champions League: English, Spanish Clubs Lead Charge For Trophy
- Produce three teams each as quarter-final berths beckon
The 2024/25 UEFA Champions League, which kicked off on 17th September 2024, will terminate with the final in Munich, Germany on 31 May, as the best of the best continue their battle to be crowned the elite side in Europe.
Interestingly, the three Premier League teams as well as three La Liga clubs are still standing strong in the race for the prestigious trophy as Europe’s Football governing body, UEFA, rolled out fixtures on who and when they will be playing next for a place in the tournament’s quarter-finals.
Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Liverpool all secured safe passage to the Round of 16 phase of this year’s revamped tournament, even as former champions, Manchester City lost out after falling to Real Madrid in the play-offs.
From the Spanish La Liga, the trio of FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, and Real Madrid secured passage into the next round with Real having to go past Pep Guardiola’s faltering Manchester City side in their play-off series.
With the tournament’s 16 best teams set to compete in the decisive Round of 16, one of the most anticipated matchups is the clash between Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid, as they write another chapter in their European rivalry.
Going by the fixtures, FC Barcelona would only be a possible opponent for any of their Spanish counterparts in a potential Champions League final slated for Saturday 31 May 2025 to culminate the 70th season of Europe’s elite club football tournament.
Also, the 2025 final will be the 33rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs’ Cup to the UEFA Champions League. To be played at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, this will be the first UEFA Champions League final played under the Swiss system format with the winners earning the right to play against the winners of the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League in the 2025 UEFA Super Cup.
A Swiss-system tournament is a non-eliminating tournament format that features a fixed number of rounds of competition, but considerably fewer than for a round-robin tournament; thus each competitor (team or individual) does not play all the other competitors.
Competitors meet one-on-one in each round and are paired using a set of rules designed to ensure that each competitor plays opponents with a similar running score, but does not play the same opponent more than once.
Kick-off times are 21:00 CET unless stated.
Round Of 16 Fixtures
FIRST LEGS
Tuesday 4 March
Club Brugge Vs Aston Villa – 5:45 pm
Borussia Dortmund Vs Lille – 8 pm
PSV Vs Arsenal – 8 pm
Real Madrid Vs Atletico – 8 pm
Wednesday 5 March
Feyenoord Vs Inter – 5:45 pm
Bayern Munich Vs Leverkusen – 8 pm
Benfica Vs Barcelona – 8 pm
Paris Vs Liverpool – 8 pm
SECOND LEGS
Tuesday 11 March
Barcelona Vs Benfica – 5:45 pm
Inter Vs Feyenoord – 8 pm
Leverkusen Vs Bayern Munich – 8 pm
Liverpool Vs Paris – 8 pm
Wednesday 12 March
Lille Vs Borussia Dortmund – 5:45 pm
Arsenal Vs PSV – 8 pm
Aston Villa Vs Club Brugge – 8 pm
Atletico Vs Real Madrid – 8 pm
Quarter-Final Draw
Paris (FRA)/Liverpool (ENG) Vs Club Brugge (BEL)/ Aston Villa (ENG)
PSV (NED)/Arsenal (ENG) Vs Real Madrid (ESP)/Atletico (ESP)
Benfica (POR)/Barcelona (ESP) Vs Borussia Dortmund (GER)/Lille (FRA)
Bayern München (GER)/Leverkusen (GER) Vs Feyenoord (NED)/Inter (ITA)
Semi-Final Draw
PSV/Arsenal/Madrid/Atletico Vs Paris/Liverpool/Club Brugge/Aston Villa
Benfica/Barcelona/Dortmund/Lille Vs Bayern/Leverkusen/Feyenoord/Inter
