Bill ConnellyJan 29, 2026, 10:02 AM ETCloseBill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.Follow on XMultiple Authors
play1:13Should Havertz be starting for Arsenal over Gyökeres?Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens discuss Kai Havertz’s display in Arsenal’s 3-2 victory over Kairat.
play0:48Has Frank finally found a solution for Tottenham’s problems?Gab & Juls discuss Thomas Frank’s tactics in Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Frankfurt in the Champions League.
play0:46Are Barcelona the Champions League favourites?Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate which team are the favourites to win the 25/26 UEFA Champions League.
play0:49Laurens: Jérémy Doku’s injury is bad news for Manchester CityGab & Juls react to Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Galatasaray in the Champions League.
play2:09Marcotti: Real Madrid have a lot of chaos in the middleGab Marcotti and Julien Laurens analyse Real Madrid’s 4-2 loss to Benfica in the UEFA Champions League and examine what the club needs to fix moving forward.
play2:28Should Antonio Conte get a pass for Napoli’s Champions League exit due to injuries?Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate Napoli’s 3-2 defeat to Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League, which saw them knocked out of the competition.
Is the new Champions League structure better than the old structure? (1:21)Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate if the new UEFA Champions League structure is better than the old structure. (1:21)
Should Havertz be starting for Arsenal over Gyökeres?Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens discuss Kai Havertz’s display in Arsenal’s 3-2 victory over Kairat.
Has Frank finally found a solution for Tottenham’s problems?Gab & Juls discuss Thomas Frank’s tactics in Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Frankfurt in the Champions League.
Gab & Juls discuss Thomas Frank’s tactics in Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Frankfurt in the Champions League.
Are Barcelona the Champions League favourites?Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate which team are the favourites to win the 25/26 UEFA Champions League.
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate which team are the favourites to win the 25/26 UEFA Champions League.
Laurens: Jérémy Doku’s injury is bad news for Manchester CityGab & Juls react to Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Galatasaray in the Champions League.
Marcotti: Real Madrid have a lot of chaos in the middleGab Marcotti and Julien Laurens analyse Real Madrid’s 4-2 loss to Benfica in the UEFA Champions League and examine what the club needs to fix moving forward.
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens analyse Real Madrid’s 4-2 loss to Benfica in the UEFA Champions League and examine what the club needs to fix moving forward.
Should Antonio Conte get a pass for Napoli’s Champions League exit due to injuries?Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate Napoli’s 3-2 defeat to Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League, which saw them knocked out of the competition.
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate Napoli’s 3-2 defeat to Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League, which saw them knocked out of the competition.
After a breathless Wednesday, we now know who has and hasn’t advanced. We’ll find out the pairings on Friday, but in the meantime let’s look back at this nutty league phase in two ways: Let’s name its Best XI, and let’s grade each team’s performance based on the expectations they originally brought to the table.
Goalkeeper: David Raya, Arsenal. When you have even a rotated Arsenal defense in front of you, you aren’t going to have that much to do, and Raya indeed faced only 20 shots on goal in seven league phase matches. But he saved 18 of them! That’s a 90% save percentage. That would be pretty good in hockey. Backup: Nikita Haikin, Bodo/Glimt
Right back: Anan Khalaili, Union Saint-Gilloise. Granted, he’s as much a midfielder as a right back, but he made the second-most defensive interventions in the competition (133). He was also first on his team in goals (three), chances created (12) and ground duels won (44) and second in progressive carries (39) and touches (415). He did it all. Backup: Kieran Trippier, Newcastle
Left back: Nuno Mendes, PSG. He’s the best left back in the world, and he proved it throughout the league phase: He’s first in the competition in ball recoveries (60), fourth in progressive carries (83), 10th in ground duels won (39), 11th in progressive passes (61) and 20th in chances created (15), and he scored two goals with two assists as well. Backup: Nico O’Reilly, Manchester City
Central midfield: Vitinha, PSG. The best midfielder in the world. He completed over 100 passes per match, and he was both first in the competition in progressive carries (121) and second in progressive passes (100). He also scored five goals, most on the team, and fizzed one in from 19 meters on Wednesday against Newcastle. Backup: Arda Güler, Real Madrid
Attacking midfield: Dominik Szoboszlai, Liverpool. The Reds’ season has been up-and-down so far, and a lot of the ups have come from Szoboszlai. He’s played at least 450 minutes this season at right back, defensive midfield, right wing and central attacking midfield, and in this competition he’s first in assists (four), fourth in chances created (21) and second in ball recoveries (58). He’s taken a ridiculous leap forward. Backup: Hans Vanaken, Club Brugge
Right wing: Lamine Yamal, Barcelona. He only played in six league phase matches, but he still produced three goals and three assists with 95 progressive carries (third in the competition), six successful 1v1s in the box (first) and 48 overall ground duels won (fourth). It almost feels like he’s had a disappointing campaign this season because of how high he’s set the bar, and he’s still been one of the best players in the competition. Backup: Michael Olise, Bayern Munich
Center-forward: Kylian Mbappé, Real Madrid. For all of Real Madrid’s oddities and inconsistencies this season, Mbappe has delivered in the competition that means the most to the club.
Mbappe has scored 13 goals (10 non-penalties), and he’s been unlucky not to produce an assist — he’s generated 2.0 expected assists (xA) from pass completions, and his 25 chances created are tops in the league phase. Backup: Erling Haaland, Manchester City
Left wing: Anthony Gordon, Newcastle. Only Kylian Mbappe (13) has produced more combined goals and assists in this competition than Gordon (eight). He all but declared the Champions League more fun than the Premier League in a recent interview, and he certainly seems to be enjoying himself on European nights. Backup: Jens Petter Hauge, Bodo/Glimt
If there’s a concern — and it’s a pretty minor one at this stage — it’s that Bayern’s form hasn’t been spectacular of late. In their last three matches (wins over Union Saint-Gilloise and PSV and a surprising loss to Augsburg), they’ve hinted at some issues in transition, and they’ve allowed as many open-play goals (two) as they’ve scored. This could be a brief blip or a hint of an oncoming funk, but for now they head into the knockout rounds as the biggest overachievers on the board.
This is a brilliant team. None of this will matter if they falter moving forward, but it’s worth mentioning.
(It might also be worth mentioning that since the Champions League expanded to 32 teams in 1999-2000, four teams have won their first eight matches — Barcelona in 2002-03, Bayern in 2019-20 and 2022-23 and Manchester City in 2023-24 — and only one advanced past the quarterfinals.)
Should Havertz be starting for Arsenal over Gyökeres?
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens discuss Kai Havertz’s display in Arsenal’s 3-2 victory over Kairat.
Has Frank finally found a solution for Tottenham’s problems?
After the briefest of missteps following Ruben Amorim’s departure last year, Sporting have ignited again. Rui Borges’ squad has combined excellent defense (fifth in xG allowed, first in xG allowed per shot) with excellent attacking contributions from Luis Suárez and Trincao (combined: eight goals, two assists). But it was Alisson Santos who beat Athletic Club in stoppage time to secure a top-eight finish.
Granted, their league-phase campaign finished with a bit of a thud — losses in three of their last four matches, including a 6-0 pounding by Liverpool on Wednesday — but two early wins, a draw with Chelsea and a dramatic late winner against Eintracht Frankfurt allowed Qarabag to advance to the knockout rounds. Not bad for the team with the second-lowest expected point total heading into the competition.
They lost that wild match to Liverpool early on and got stomped by Arsenal, but they blew out Eintracht Frankfurt back before everyone started doing that, and they won three straight after the Arsenal loss. A quietly effective team, though they only pulled one point from matches against Galatasaray and Bodo/Glimt to finish up.
Like Atletico, Atalanta got their points locked up and then packed it in a bit early. They took 13 of 15 points from Matchdays 2 through 6, and got some tremendous play from Charles De Ketelaere (two goals and two assists from 20 chances created), so for now we can overlook that they finished the league phase with duds against Athletic Club and Union Saint-Gilloise.
Wednesday’s win at Borussia Dortmund was a nice confidence builder after three consecutive Champions League losses (albeit to Atletico, Liverpool and Arsenal). They had a backloaded schedule, and with a 10th-place finish they missed out on a knockout-round bye, but they’re second in goals allowed, and they create far more great chances than their opponents — they’ll have a chance to make a run.
Injuries and some early setbacks threw us off the scent a bit, but Barca have won 14 of their last 15 matches, 12 of them by multiple goals. Their 18 open-play goals were the most of the league phase, and they’ve both completed the most progressive passes and drawn people offside the most. Hansi Flick’s team is looking an awful lot like a great Hansi Flick team.
Arsenal and Tottenham were responsible for most of the Premier League’s league-phase overachievement, but Newcastle handled their business nicely, suffering a misstep at Marseille and losing a tossup against Barcelona but otherwise going unbeaten. Anthony Gordon has been excellent up front, and aside from the Marseille match, the defense was outstanding too.