The final round of the UEFA Champions League group phase games dawned on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 and as ever, the expected dramas unfolded, yet there were little shock about the outcome of games.

The top guns, who also some point looked on the brink of elimination made up for lost grounds, albeit they may potentially land in trouble, it would have been more devastating had they been undone in this rounds.

18 games kicked off simultaneously on a very busy evening and a much busy first-half saw 33 goals scored in 16 of the stadia as only the meeting between Young Boys and Crvena Zvezda in Bern, Switzerland, and Barcelona-Atalanta failed to produce a goal at the interval.

However, at full-time, there has been goals everywhere, and everyone already knows their fate ahead of the knockout rounds draw on Friday.

Here is how it finished in the UEFA Champions League group phase 

Liverpool led twice in Eindhoven through Cody Gakpo and then Harvey Elliott, but the host came back each time and went on to win it 3-2, with all the goals coming in the first-half.

The Premier League side were still able to finish top of the standing after Barcelona failed to beat Atalanta, who also came from behind twice to snatch a point in Spain.

Arsenal, thanks to goals from Jorginho and Ethan Nwaneri secured a come from behind win against Girona in Spain, all goals also came before half-time with Arnaut Danjuma beating Arsenal debutant Neto Murara to break the deadlock.

The Gunners finished behind Barcelona and ahead of Inter on goal difference, as Lautaro Martinez's hat-trick ensured Inter also finished with 19 points from eight games.

Atlético Madrid completed their strong finish in the group phase with an impressive 4-1 away to RB Salzburg. Giulaino Simeone, Marcos Llorente and an Antoine Griezmann's brace had them leading 4-0 before a late consolation denied them a clean sheet in Austria.

Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa all secured impressive wins against Sparta Prague, Feyenoord and Celtic respectively to earn an automatic slot in the round of 16.

Playoff Candidates 

Atalanta, having held on for a point in Barcelona now occupies the most prominent playoff position, ahead of 10th place Borussia Dortmund, who secured a 3-1 home win over Shakhtar Donesk under the watch of Mike Tullberg.

Serhou Guirassy bagged a brace and Ramy Bensebaini scored the third to restore the host's two goal cushion after the visitors pulled on back through Marlon Gomes five minutes after the restart.

Real Madrid got the better of Brest as expected. Rodrygo Goes bagged a brace and Jude Bellingham scored one in a standout player of the match display to seal a 3-0 win, but not enough to get into an automatic slot place for the round of 16.

Bayern Munich finished 12th after goals from Thomas Muller, Harry Kane and Kingsley Coman helped them return to winning ways in the competition, sealing a 3-1 win at home to Slovan Bratislava, who got a late consolation through substitute, Marko Tolic.

Milan, who missed a great chance to finish in the top eight following a 2-1 loss away to Dinamo Zagreb were left in 13th place. After going a goal down earlier in the game, they were dealt further blow as Yunus Musah was sent off for a second bookable offense.

Despite their unfortunate situation, the Rossonerri managed to level matters through Christian Pulisic eight minutes after the interval, although were not level for long before the host retake the lead, with Marko Pjaca scoring the eventual match-winner on the hour mark.

PSV Eindhoven moves up to 14th thanks to their impressive comeback win over Liverpool. Johan Bakayoko, Ismael Sabairi and Ricardo Pepi with the goals for them.

Ousmane Dembele bagged a hat-trick to help PSG Paris Saint-Germain secure a convincing 4-1 win over Stuttgart. Bradley Barcola opened the scoring and a William Pacho own goal was the only consolation for the host on the night.

Benfica holds 16th after goals from Vangelis Pavlidis and Orkun Kokcu secured a 2-0 win away to Juventus, while AS Monaco dropped down to 17th after the humbling in the hands of Inter, who emerged 3-0 victorious thanks to a Lautaro Martinez's hat-trick.

Brest, Feyenoord, Juventus and Celtic take 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st positions in respective form after their defeats on final day. Despite Adam Idah bagging a brace to draw Celtic level after going 2-0 down, a Morgan Rogers hat-trick and an Ollie Watkins goal propelled Villa to the win.

Manchester City came from a goal down to put an end to a run of 98-days without a win in Europe by beating Club Brugge 3-1 in the Etihad, ending the Belgian club's 20 game unbeaten run across all competitions.

Pep Guardiola's side as a result return to playoff place as they finished 22nd, just ahead of Sporting CP, who drew 1-1 at home to Bologna and Club Brugge, the same team that lost to City.

Relegated Teams

Very unfortunate for Dinamo Zagreb who relegated on goal difference, consequence of their 9-2 loss to Bayern Munich in matchday 1.

Despite finishing level on points with three other teams who made the playoffs, they finish outside of it, made to rue who poor they were in the first UEFA Champions League game of the season.

Stuttgart needed at least a draw to stay alive if results elsewhere did not go their way but they lost to PSG at home, and things didn't go their way in other games hence, they found themselves out of the playoff.

Other teams have already been relegated before the final round of games but Sturm Graz and Crvena Zvezda depart on a high note, by beating RB Leipzig and Young Boys respectively.

Bologna played a draw while the others were all beaten in their final games, capping off a disastrous group outing in Europe's biggest club competition.

History Makers 

Wednesday became the first day, where up to 18 games were played on the same day in European Cup/Champions League history.

Morgan Rogers became the first player in UEFA Champions League history to score twice in the opening five minutes of a game in the competition.

Bayern Munich became the first side to go unbeaten in 34 home group games in UEFA Champions League history, extending the record following their win over Slovan Bratislava.

There were 64 goals scored in the UEFA Champions League on the night, with only one day of European Cup action ever seeing more goals scored (66 on 16 September 1970).

With his hat-trick against Celtic, Morgan Rogers (22y 187d) tonight became the second-youngest Englishman to score a hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League, after Wayne Rooney against Fenerbahçe in September 2004 (18y 340d).

Knockout Rounds Brackets 

The knockout rounds draw will be conducted on Friday, January, 31 2025.