Winners and Losers From 2024-25 UEFA Champions League League Stage

Wednesday's 18-game bonanza brought in the conclusion of the new Champions League format's league phase.

Eight matchdays of drama have concluded, and we're left with 24 standing ahead of a play-off round that will eliminate another eight.

Who has performed? Who deserves to get slated? Let's take a look.

Arne Slot's first season in charge of Liverpool is going like a dream.

The Reds are six points clear in the Premier League with a game in hand, into the League Cup semi-finals and favourites for the FA Cup. They also won this new Champions League table format at a canter.

Wednesday's loss against PSV Eindhoven didn't matter one iota, underlined by Slot's playing a second-string side that actually put up a decent fight. The manager was able to rest key players like Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, while other elite teams such as Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain had to go full throttle to secure their progression.

You simply couldn't ask for any more if you're a Reds fan.

At one point on Wednesday night, Man City were 1-0 down to Club Brugge and dropping out of the competition altogether. While Pep Guardiola's side managed to turn it around for a playoff spot, finishing 22nd is an embarrassment.

This has been a catastrophic season for the club that won the treble just two years ago. Premier League woes aside, three wins from eight European games just isn't good enough.

Losing 4-1 to a Sporting side that finished 23rd, dropping a 3-0 lead for a draw against Feyenoord and failing to score in defeat to Juventus are bruises from a fight they have survived. Up next? A playoff against Madrid or Bayern Munich.

You wouldn't put it beyond Man City to find amazing form, beat either of them and go on to win the competition. Let's just hope Pep wears mittens.

Barcelona's attack is absolutely ridiculous.

Much of that comes down to the energy, creativity and downright lethality of Raphinha, who is having a stunning season. Last week's winner in the classic 5-4 comeback win over Benfica is evidence of how far he has come since nearly being sold in the summer.

The Brazilian has assumed the captaincy and all the responsibility that comes with it to help a young group with tremendous potential. His eight goals and three assists make him the competition's most prolific contributor. He keeps stepping up, just like he did to assist Lamine Yamal on Wednesday.

We live in a time of footballers becoming muted. They're not trying the Ronaldinho skill, or the special thing that gives them personality. Inch-perfect tactics are weighing individuals down and killing personalities. Raphinha doesn't care about that. He's a shining example of what a modern flair player should be; decisive, inventive and still able to carry out instructions for the good of the team.

The French league gets a lot of stick.

Those jibes have heightened in recent years due to PSG's endless money and superstars producing nothing but disappointment in the Champions League. Every year there has been some kind of capitulation, elevated by having the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar on their books.

Well, PSG's expectations are different now. They have a young side. Two matches ago it looked like they might struggle to progress. They showed incredible fight to come back from 2-0 down against Man City and then blew Stuttgart away 4-1 on Wednesday to escape any heartache. That character has been severely lacking in recent years and supporters should be proud to see improving talent on show.

And you know what? Lille progressed automatically with a top-eight spot. Both Monaco and Brest made it through to the playoffs. That's a really respectable result. Credit where it's due.

Thirty-six teams across 18 games on the last night of the new league phase. While that sounds fun on paper, it was actually pretty difficult to follow. Goals were flying in at a breathless pace and the ramifications of each barely settled before something else changed the picture.

Again, that should be exciting, but so many concurrent games that impact each other aren't a natural fit for TV.

One has to think if Man City weren't in such an unusual predicament that much of the interest would be gone, too. If this is as surprising as the final set of fixtures gets, is it any better than what we had before?

UEFA certainly got what they wanted with bigger teams clashing earlier in the competition. Maybe I'm opposed to change and it'll take a few more years to feel a bit more natural.