End of the first Champions League stage: Aston Villa and Bayer made the top eight, Bayern and Real are out.

2025-01-30 00:02 © AFP

The "group stage" season of the Champions League has ended, during which teams played 8 matches against different opponents.

In the end, two European giants, "Bayern" and "Real," fell short of the first knockout stage, which guarantees a place in the round of 16.

"Bayern" defeated the "Slovan" team 3:1 in the last round, while "Real" crushed "Brest" 3:0, but it was not enough.

Teams such as "Aston Villa," Bayer Leverkusen, and "Lille" closed the path to the round of 16 for these giants.

In the last round, "Lille" triumphed 6:1 against Rotterdam's "Feyenoord." The Dutch team scored three own goals, two of which were by Austrian defender Gernot Trauner.

"Aston Villa," meanwhile, won a fluctuating match 4:2 against "Celtic." Morgan Rogers scored a "hat-trick," while Ollie Watkins added another goal. In the guests' ranks, Adam Idah stood out with a "double."

"Bayer" confidently defeated Sparta Prague's players 2:0. The goals were scored by Florian Wirtz and Nathan Tella.

"Bayern," "Real," and other teams that finished in places 9-24 will face a supplementary knockout stage starting on February 11.