Champions League 23/24 Group Stage: Key talking points heading into Round 6

With only one Champions League Group Stage matchday ahead of us, most tables have a guaranteed winner. But some questions remain in need of answering as the sixth matchday looms in the distance. Here, we’ll take a look at some of the most interesting talking points after the penultimate round of fixtures. 

First, here is a list of teams that have already qualified for the Round of 16: 

1. Real Madrid
2. Bayern Munich 
3. Barcelona 
4. Manchester City
5. Lazio 
6. Arsenal 
7. Real Sociedad
8. Inter Milan
9. Atletico Madrid
10. Borussia Dortmund
11. RB Leipzig 

Will Manchester United be eliminated from the Champions League? 

After their 3-3 draw against an inspired Galatasaray team at home, Manchester United find themselves staring a Champions League exit in the face. Their final game comes against Bayern Munich, who will look to finish their group stage with another win, and it would eliminate Erik Ten Hag’s men from Europe altogether. 

The only way out for them is to at least get a point off of Bayern, which would let them have a chance at the Europa League. But, anything other than a draw in the other game would need a miraculous win against Bayern from United to keep their hopes alive. 

Bayern’s winning run ends at the hands of Copenhagen 

It is rather anticlimactic that Bayern’s winning run in group stage games ended at the hands of Copenhagen with a 0-0 draw. But, the Danish side deserve all the credit to take the game to one of Europe’s biggest teams and keep a clean sheet at the Allianz Stadium, which no team has managed in years. 

On the other hand, Bayern Munich remain unbeaten in 39 Champions League games, with their last home defeat in the group stage coming in 13/14.

Arsenal and Barca qualify for Round of 16 

Barcelona have qualified for the Round of 16 for the first time since 2020/21, while Arsenal return to the knockout stages for the first time since 2016/17. Both have qualified as group winners, meaning they won’t encounter Bayern in the last 16, who have had a history of thrashing both teams in question. 

Dortmund survive Group of Death as crucial matchday awaits 

Dortmund have qualified from the Group of Death with 10 points, but their final placing depends on the result of their match with PSG. On the other hand, Milan seem destined to be eliminated from the Champions League in the group stage itself this year, unless they can win their game against Newcastle United and Dortmund do them a favour by defeating PSG. 

In that event, PSG would play in the Europa League while Newcastle would get eliminated altogether. But if PSG win, the result of the Milan-Newcastle will only determine who plays in the Europa League and who gets eliminated from Europe.