Europe’s top football clubs are entering the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League Tournament on Feb. 11.
The previous eight match days of the league phase have showcased heated competition between teams.
GCSU students recall some of the biggest upset matches in the tournament so far.
“Liverpool beat Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 in November,” said Ari Johns, a sophomore biology major. “Everyone was expecting Bayern Leverkusen to put up a better fight”.
Liverpool forward Luis Diaz finished the game with a hat trick, with three goals in one game, against Bayer Leverkusen.
There have been multiple unpredictable games so far. Notably, fans were baffled after the AC Milan and GNK Dinamo match on the final match day.
AC Milan was close to securing a spot in the top eight but was cut short after defender Yunus Musah received two yellow cards and was ejected from the game.
GNK Dinamo had the advantage for the full second half of the game and was able to put two goals past the weakened defense to win the game.
Following the end of the league phase, the top eight teams secured their spots in the round of 16 and will not have to play in the first leg of the knockout stage.
The Premier League, England’s top soccer league, is dominating the top of the bracket with three teams automatically advancing.
Currently, Arsenal is leading the table in points, followed by Aston Villa in second place and Liverpool holding its position in eighth place.
La Liga, the Spanish football league, is showing strong contenders as well. Two Spanish teams, Atlético de Madrid and FC Barcelona, clinched spots in the next round placing third and fourth respectively.
As the Champions League moves into the next phase, the match-ups are looking more intense. Teams will be playing based on the total score so far, and fans are expecting the competition to be tighter.
Both German teams left in the knockout round, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are expected to be strong competitors in the upcoming games.
The Manchester City and Real Madrid game on Feb. 11 is highly anticipated among fans. The Celtic FC and Bayern Munich game on Feb. 12 is shaping up to be another good match.
The new format of the tournament will impact the upcoming knockout phase.
Changes were made to the existing structure for the 2024-2025 season.
“To introduce a better competitive balance between all the teams, with the possibility for each team to play opponents of a similar competitive level throughout the league phase,” said the UEFA Executive Committee, in an online article addressing the topic.
The top eight teams go straight to the round of 16, and teams ranked No. 9-No. 12 will play teams of the next lowest points in the knockout phase.
The winners of the eight knockout games will go on to play the top eight teams in the round of 16.
The new format will make predicting matchups in the round of 16 difficult.
The UEFA Champions League is one of the largest internationally relevant sporting events being held at the beginning of 2025.
Many students on the GCSU campus are not as interested in the Champions League or international soccer as they are in other sports.
Amelia McEwen, a sophomore mass communication major, is not an avid fan of soccer but watches some games, especially the World Cup.
“I believe that if more Americans focused on sports outside of the country,” McEwen said. “Especially soccer, we could learn more about the games, and they would become more widely accepted here”.
With each year, more Americans are catching on to the soccer trend.
“Americans should definitely be interested and support European and international soccer. Soccer is an exciting sport to watch,” Johns said. “The world loves soccer, yet it has been slow to pick up in the U.S. The whole world cannot be wrong.”
Soccer events like the UEFA Champions League are beginning to garner more viewers every year.
Simultaneously, Major League Soccer in the U.S. is receiving more attention with each season.