The Champions League comes roaring back into our lives this month and will arrive with a twist, as the new so-called ‘Swiss’ format meaning the competition will look very different this year.
Gone is the familiar group stage and in its place is a single 36-team league table, with each side playing eight matches against eight different teams, four at home and four away.
The draw was made last week and threw up some huge games, including Liverpool versus Real Madrid, Manchester City against Inter Milan, Arsenal versus Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa against Bayern Munich.
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And at the start of any new tournament, you just know that the supercomputers are itching to deploy their algorithms and spoil the whole thing by telling us exactly who will win the lot.
And if you chose to believe Grosvenor Sport’s supercomputer, then we will be seeing a Premier League success on May 31, 2025 at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
That’s because their number crunching has *spoiler warning* Manchester City winning their second Champions League title, seeing off holders Real Madrid in the final.
They also predict that an all-English quarter-final between Liverpool and Arsenal will see Arne Slot’s side coming up trumps on a classic Anfield European night to book a semi-final spot against Madrid, while Manchester City will breeze past RB Leipzig to book their place in the final.
Aston Villa’s return to Europe’s premier club competition sees them make it out of the league phase but fall to Leipzig in the last-16.
You can also see from the table below how they see the league phase panning out...
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Real Madrid | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 7 | 14 | 24 |
| 2 | Inter | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 6 | 16 | 22 |
| 3 | Bayern | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 4 | 15 | 22 |
| 4 | Barcelona | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 19 |
| 5 | Man City | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 8 | 12 | 18 |
| 6 | Atletico | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 18 |
| 7 | Aston Villa | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 17 |
| 8 | Atalanta | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 16 |
| 9 | Monaco | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 16 |
| 10 | Arsenal | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 15 |
| 11 | Dortmund | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 12 | 3 | 14 |
| 12 | PSV | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 14 |
| 13 | Milan | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 14 |
| 14 | Feyenoord | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 14 |
| 15 | Leverkusen | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 13 |
| 16 | Stuttgart | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 13 |
| 17 | Girona | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 11 |
| 18 | Liverpool | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 10 |
| 19 | Juventus | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 10 |
| 20 | Celtic | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 9 |
More Champions League stories
How the controversial new Champions League format will actually IMPROVE European football
Champions League draw as it happened: Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa learn their UCL opponents for the league phase
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