FOUR CLUBS MISS OUT ON AUTOMATIC QUALIFICATION TO UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ROUND OF 16

Top European sides Real Madrid, Inter Milan, holders Paris Saint-Gernain and Juventus will have to go through the playoffs to reach this season’s UEFA Champions League round of 16 stage.

While Juventus and PSG recorded draws and Inter won, Madrid suffered a dramatic 4-2 loss to Benfica, on the final day of the league phase.

All the five Premier League teams – Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs, made it to the round of 16, with Gunners topping the league phase with a perfect record of 24 points out of 24 matches.

In other results, Chelsea defeated Napoli 3-2, Barcelona came from behind to thrash Copenhagen 4-1 and Liverpool hammered Qarabag 6-0, while  Galatasaray, lost 2-0 to Manchester City and Atalanta lost 1-0 at Union SG.

The eight clubs, who have already booked automatic qualifications to the first knockout stage are Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Spurs, Barcelona, Chelsea, Sporting Lisbon and Man City.