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City and PSG meet in the "Super Wednesday" and jump on the Champions League bandwagon

With the eighth and final matchday of the new joint group stage completed, Liverpool and Barcelona, the only teams to have qualified directly for the last 16, were joined on Wednesday by Arsenal, Inter, Atletico, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa.

El defensa brasileño del Paris Saint-Germain celebra con sus compañeros

Paris Saint-Germain's Brazilian defender celebrates with teammates.AFP.

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The first "Super Wednesday" of the new Champions League—an action-packed final day with all 18 games played simultaneously—delivered high-stakes drama as giants Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain teetered on the brink of elimination. Both held their ground and secured spots in the play-offs for a chance to reach the Round of 16.

With the eighth and final matchday of the new joint group stage completed, Liverpool and Barcelona, the only ones to have secured direct passage to the last 16 earlier, were joined on Wednesday by Arsenal, Inter, Atletico, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa.

Finally first, Liverpool snapped their run of seven wins in seven games with a 3-2 defeat over PSV Eindhoven that Barcelona were unable to take advantage of to snatch the No. 1 spot and the ten million euro ($10.42 million) check awarded by UEFA to the best in the group stage.

Lautaro's hat-trick

On a night of scoreboard watching, the azulgrana lost the top spot after a 2-2 draw at home against Atalanta.

The azulgrana team celebrated an eye-catching goal by Lamine Yamal (47') to finish a counter and another by Ronald Araujo (72'), but Atalanta equalized through Brazilian Éderson (67') and Mario (79'), although this result was not enough for the Italians to qualify directly to the round of 16.

Among those who can now focus solely on the Round of 16 in March are Inter, who secured their spot with a hat-trick from Argentine captain Lautaro Martínez in a 3-0 win over Monaco at San Siro, and Atlético, who dominated Salzburg 4-1 with a brace from Antoine Griezmann and an early goal from breakout star Giuliano Simeone.

"It was a very important match for us, we approached it with the right mentality, with the right attitude. To be in the top eight was our first objective. But we are not hiding, our goal is to win the Champions League," warned Lautaro.

Savinho decisive

But the real drama of the night came from City and PSG, the two powerhouse projects that were floundering in the group stage.

After facing each other on the previous matchday, PSG staged a comeback to win 4-2, a liberating result they extended on Wednesday in Stuttgart, with a 4-1 win that left no room for doubt and a hat-trick from an inspired Ousmane Dembele.

"I like to talk about individuals, I like to talk about Ousmane Dembele. He played an incredible game, it's great news to see everything he does on the pitch, he scored extraordinary goals," celebrated his coach Luis Enrique.

In addition PSG, once struggling in Europe but reborn in January with eight goals in two games, will have a favorable matchup in the playoffs: Monaco or Brest, as determined by Friday's draw.

There was far more suspense in Manchester. Trailing at halftime and virtually eliminated, City staged a late comeback against Brugge (3-1), snatching a play-off spot at the last moment.

Goals from Mateo Kovacic (53), Ecuadorian Joel Ordonez own goal (62) and Brazilian Savinho (77), decisive in his second-half entry, rendered Nigerian Onyedika's goal (45) ineffective.The bad news for the European champions in 2023 came after the match. Their play-off opponents will be either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.

Rodrygo double in Brittany

The Bavarian giants and the reigning champions won on the last matchday, 3-1 against already eliminated Slovan Bratislava and 3-0 against Brest, but will have to play the play-offs, on February 11-12 (first leg) and 18-19 (second leg).

Against Brest, in a match played in Guingamp, Brazilian Rodrygo was the star of the night for Real Madrid with a brace (27' and 78'). In between had scored his English teammate Jude Bellingham (56).

"He's very good, like the others. In this period he has scored a lot, like Bellingham or Mbappé. Up front there is a lot of quality and we are taking good advantage of it," Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said of Rodrygo.

Completing the Champions League play-offs will be reigning runners-up Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon, Brugge, Celtic Glasgow, AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord, Juventus and Benfica.

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