Manchester City came from behind against Club Brugge to reach the Champions League knockout phase, where they were safely joined by Paris Saint-Germain as Arsenal qualified directly for the last 16 on Wednesday in the final round of league-phase matches. Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa also followed Liverpool and Barcelona in securing top-eight finishes to skip the new play-off round. On a dramatic night in which only two of the closing 18 games were dead rubbers, Man City got the win they needed to avoid an embarrassing exit with a nervy 3-1 victory over Club Brugge. Reigning Premier League champions City will face either holders Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in a blockbuster play-off tie next month. “In the second half we lifted our soul and our hearts were free,” City manager Pep Guardiola told TNT Sports.
“For today we are in the next round, that’s good.”
PSG, who defeated City 4-2 last week, produced an emphatic display in a 4-1 triumph at Stuttgart.
Arsenal only needed a point to wrap up a last-16 berth and goals from Jorginho and Ethan Nwaneri gave them a 2-1 victory at Girona.
“Hopefully more belief in that dressing room that we are a good team and can face anyone and still perform and win games,” said Gunners manager Mikel Arteta.
Inter finished fourth in the standings by seeing off 10-man Monaco 3-0, while Atletico made it five straight Champions League wins with a 4-1 thumping of Salzburg in Austria.
Bayer Leverkusen also completed the job, beating Sparta Prague 2-0, as Lille were the only French side to seal a top-eight slot thanks to a 6-1 thrashing of Feyenoord.
Aston Villa snuck into eighth place in their first appearance in the competition in 42 years, as Morgan Rogers’ hat-trick helped them to a 4-2 win over Celtic.
Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, Bayern and AC Milan all ended one point off the top eight.
The other teams in Friday’s play-off draw are PSV Eindhoven, Benfica, Monaco, Brest, Feyenoord, Juventus, Celtic, Sporting Lisbon and Club Brugge.
The new 36-team format provided plenty of tension, but all the fancied sides at least finished in the top 24 to stay in the competition.
Man City, European champions two seasons ago, were in serious danger of an awful season hitting a new low when they fell behind to Raphael Onyedika’s strike on the stroke of half-time at the Etihad.
But Mateo Kovacic waltzed through the centre of the Brugge side to equalise shortly after the break before Joel Ordonez’s own goal put City in front.
Savinho’s late strike added some gloss to the scoreline as Guardiola narrowly avoided the earliest exit from the competition in his career.
Brugge, thanks to results in other games, clung onto the final play-off spot despite their defeat and will next play either Atalanta or Dortmund.
PSG would have been knocked out by a loss in Germany but were never in any danger as Bradley Barcola’s brave header and two goals from Ousmane Dembele put them 3-0 up on Stuttgart inside 35 minutes.
Dembele, who played a starring role as a substitute against City, completed his hat-trick in the second period before Chris Fuehrich’s consolation.
“We’ve been doing very well for some time now, playing well, controlling possession and winning our games,” Dembele told Canal+.
PSG, semi-finalists last season, finished 15th to reach the knockout stage for a 13th consecutive season, after having been outside the top 24 after six matches.
“We’re delighted to have qualified for the play-offs,” added Dembele.
Luis Enrique’s men will take on a fellow Ligue 1 team for a last-16 berth in either Monaco or Brest, as Stuttgart were knocked out.
Seven-time winners AC Milan dropped out of the top eight with a 2-1 loss at Dinamo Zagreb as Yunus Musah’s 39th-minute sending off proved crucial.
Dinamo were still eliminated, though, courtesy of Conrad Harder’s equaliser for Sporting with 13 minutes left in their 1-1 draw with Bologna.
Milan will play either local rivals Juventus or Feyenoord in the play-offs.
A much-changed Liverpool finished top despite losing 3-2 at PSV Eindhoven, as second-placed Barcelona drew 2-2 with Atalanta, who finished an agonising ninth having started the evening in seventh place.
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