Football Daily - Champions League Debrief: Man City survive scare & Villa Park bedlam

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

Man City scrape into the play-offs while Aston Villa & Arsenal reach the last 16. Steve Crossman has all the reaction to a dramatic final round of Champions League games and how the knockout rounds are shaping up. Liverpool top the group phase despite losing, and Celtic are also through. Hear from Pep Guardiola, Unai Emery, Arne Slot, Mikel Arteta and Brendan Rodgers.02:25 Man City survive Brugge scare 08:20 Pep Guardiola on facing Bayern Munich or Real Madrid 09:55 Aston Villa beat Celtic to reach last 16 12:25 Unai Emery on Watkins & Duran 13:55 Celtic through to the knockouts 15:35 Liverpool top the group phase 16:35 Arne Slot on finishing top & Nallo’s red card 19:00 Arsenal qualify for the knockouts 20:00 Mikel Arteta on qualifying & David Raya injury 25:15 Brendan Rodgers on Celtic ‘pride’ 30:10 Lille make it through in styleBBC Sounds / 5 Live European commentaries this week: Thu 30 Jan 2000 FCSB v Man Utd in the UEFA Europa League

Hello there heck of a night the first ever Champions League League phase has finished with a bang we will go through

the whole thing in the next 25 minutes or so the big news for a while it looked like Manchester City were on their way out of the Champions League.

They came from behind. They beat Club Bruges by three goals to one. City finished 22nd. They will play either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the two-legged playoffs to reach the last 16. So albeit the Etihad in a second, they will find out exactly who they'll play on Friday. The ties will be played out in the middle of next month.

Whichever of Bayern and Real Madrid don't play Manchester City, they will play Celtic after they lost 4-2 at Aston Villa. Villa were basically in and out of that automatic qualification top eight all night. They finished eighth. They will play in the last 16 because they've gone through straight away. One of Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund, Club Bruges or Sporting Lisbon the other British clubs Liverpool and Arsenal are the other two through automatically Liverpool actually lost 3-2 at PSV they still finished top of the Champions

League their possible opponents Brest, Monaco, Benfica, Paris, Saint-Germain. Arsenal will find out their opponents in the last 16 as well once the playoffs are done. So that draw isn't until the 21st of February. They won 2-1 at Girona. They finished third. Their possible opponents are Milan, PSV, Juventus and Feyenoord. We will also find time to tell you what happened to some of the big non-British clubs. And John Bennett's been watching them all night.

And Lille are one of the great stories. They started the day in 12th. They have reached the top eight and they will go straight through to the last 16 after a 6-1 win over Feyenoord. Atalanta and Milan started the day in the top eight but have dropped out. And Sporting just about stay in the competition. They were trailing against Bologna for a long, long time, but got the equaliser and it means they finished 23rd. What a remarkable season so far then in the Champions League.

Who would have thought Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, none of them would go through automatically in the Champions League. However, of all of the real big fish of European club football, Manchester City John Murray came the closest to going out altogether. Yes, Pep Guardiola told us yesterday he did not have any doubts that his team would do what they had to do to go through. I have to confess, during the match, it didn't look like it, particularly when Manchester City had huffed and puffed in the first half, and then just before the break on the counter-attack,

Jutla set up Raphael Onyedika to shoot the Belgian champions into a shock lead. It left Manchester City with so much to do in the second half, but they achieved it. Mateo Kovacic took it on himself to run at the Bruges defence and shoot into the bottom corner. City turned it their way when Guardiola forced an Ordonez own goal and the third goal from substitute Savino under Mignolet means City successfully dug themselves out of a serious Champions League hole

and, despite the defeat, Bruges also squeaked into the playoffs in the 24th and final place. Izzy Christensen has been alongside John Murray all night. Izzy, I think for everybody, wherever you were experiencing this last match day, it was a little bit crazy. What was the experience inside the Etihad like though? It felt very contained considering, you know, 18 matches going on, you know, all around Europe. It just felt like it was very contained. It was very task focused in here tonight. And of course, in the first half, Bruges almost spoiled the party.

And that then stimulated a response from Manchester City. The atmosphere was a little tense at the start of the second half. And it was one man in particular who changed the game, in my opinion, for Manchester City, which was Savinia, who came on at half time. That then flipped the atmosphere. And then everything sort of came up to the boil a little bit and Manchester City got control.

But like John said, it was certainly not an easy task for Manchester City tonight. I think everybody inside this studio had steam coming out of their ears over the course of the last couple of hours and none more than you, Statman Dave. Yeah, counting touches of John Stones, 110 touches in the game. That's the stat we needed.

Passes completed. And one important one, hey Statman. Well, two in fact, four chances created, which was the joint most on the pitch and two assists, including that ball out to Savino, Izzy, that you mentioned before. Really important in central midfield today. There is an interesting symmetry here, I think,

in the possibility of those two opponents, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich for Manchester City. Because ultimately, in a competition like this, I just don't think any of us expected a possible playoff tie involving any of those three teams. And we're going to get at least two of them together. Yeah, so that is the beauty of what we've seen in the in the new system the new format of the champions league that it throws up matches like that that um you know we probably wouldn't

have had in the in the old format of the competition um and uh you know who knows where they'll be in a month's time and uh you know it is either or but whichever way it works out between those four clubs you know they are a couple of classic ties in the making. Sliding doors moments though because about what 60 seconds before the own goal that put City in front, Bruges were about

a centimetre away from taking the lead themselves. That's right, what a film sliding doors is by the way. Great film. What a film but it makes me think of that moment Kovacic, when Bruges just slid open and Kovacic just saw

the space and he ran into it and City for all the passes, I'm sure Statman Dave's got the whole total team passes somewhere in his notebook throughout the game, but for the amount of passes that City made in the game, not many of them were penetrating the Bruges you know resilient wall if you like but some somehow in the second half it opened and Kovacic just drove through it he found his moment and it wasn't anything fancy about the finish but it was precise it was passed into the corner and that was the moment that this

game turned and then Savinio came to life and it just needed a player in that moment to take it by the scruff of the neck and that was Kovacic and he's been pretty reliable this season for Manchester City. Would you like Gwyneth Paltrow to play you when they make a film of tonight? Champions League match day eight when that inevitably happens.

I think, John, there will be some people who might actually use Manchester City's performance in the Champions League as one of the arguments against this format, because they will say, you know, how can a team who only wins one of their last five matches and only does that, scrapes through and still has a chance to win the biggest club competition in Europe? Well, if you make it an eight-match group, then it follows that you can do enough in that time. Listen, I think the possibility of Real Madrid against Manchester City in the playoff round is absolutely fascinating, given the recent history they've played each other in each of the last three seasons.

If you remember here in the quarterfinal last season when it went to the penalty shootout, Bernardo Silva, do you remember the dink down the middle in the penalty shootout? And semifinals in the previous two seasons, one of which was won by Manchester City, one of which was won by Real Madrid. But they were absolute classics. But, you know, what UEFA will think about them meeting at that early stage of the competition,

you know, I'm not sure that's the kind of thing they had in mind. Izzy, just to conclude my notepadad it was 781 passes completed by Manchester City which is the most they've managed in a single game this season but also passes into the final third with 91 again a match high for City I knew my eyes weren't deceiving me there was a lot of passes played in this match

but Bruges I'm not going to ask you to dig out Bruges numbers but they didn't have that many passes but they were effective in what they did I think we need to pay a little bit of attention to the fact that they were fantastic tonight. Their game plan, I thought they executed it perfectly. But of course, as expected, Manchester City's quality shone through in the end,

but they really had to work for it. Let's hear from Pep Guardiola. We saw a fire before the game in the halftime, so the journalists have the headline already. Yeah, we are lost. We are out. When you are out, when you play, you have nothing to lose. I think the first half was so academic.

We missed the spark, maybe for the pressure, maybe because we are not... We felt it in the second half. When you say sometimes you are winning 2-3-0 and you are scared to lose what you are winning. And when you are 1-0 down, we are out of the second half. You said sometimes you are winning 2-3-0 and you are scared to lose what you are winning. And when you are 1-0 down, we are out of the Champions League. Nothing to do. And the people, the players, won that.

And the right moment, we found the goals. And I think Sabino helped us all the season when he played there. It was unbelievable. So he changed the game because after five, ten minutes, created two or three corners, our crowd reacted and it had been a really, really tough group. New format stage, really, really tough. But we did it, we are there.

In two weeks we'll be better than we are right now because new players come back, new signs. Against these two giants, one of them is going to play and we'll see what happens, how we arrive. One is the king of the competition, the other one maybe is the second or third king of the competition. Can you imagine Manchester City winning the Champions League this season? Right now, no.

People right now in the locker room said, oh, Bayern v Madrid, it's OK. We're going to prepare well and we're going to be fit and we'll try it and we'll see what happens Izzy, John we'll keep you in the conversation now as we move over to Villa Park because there's lots to wrap up

right across this Champions League phase Ian Dennis and Chris Sutton watched Aston Villa beat Celtic by four goals to two in the end Ian one team gets to go through automatically and the other gets an incredible glamour tie yes

for Celtic either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich and for Aston Villa there were many permutations that we were faced with today they knew that they had to win

but we were really keeping an eye on Atletico Madrid Milan or Atalanta but then all of a sudden Lille

and the goal swing that they had in that heavy victory over Feyenoord propelled Lille into the top eight and when it became Barcelona 2 Atalanta 2 all of a sudden had Atalanta grabbed a last minute winner in in Spain then Aston Villa would have dropped out so for the last 10 minutes despite them leading and Morgan Rodgers scoring a hat-trick before tonight he hadn't even scored a goal in the Champions League. He then bags a hat-trick, so a dream night for him. But for those last 10 minutes, it was an anxious wait because their destiny was out of their own hands

until the final whistle sounded in Spain. Chris, when you think about Real Madrid 11th, Bayern Munich 12th, Paris Saint-Germain 15th, Manchester City 22nd, Aston Villa getting in that top eight is a heck of an achievement. Yeah, massive, massive deal. You know, you think how they've progressed under Unai Emery and Champions League this season. And then it's about trying to compete on the domestic front and the European front. So to get a top eight place, that is, you know, credit to Unai Emery and the team,

because they have looked flat in the last couple of weeks and it was very unlike Unai Emery to publicly call out these players as he did do because of the frustration with the way they performed against Monaco. So the pressure was on them tonight against Celtic and there was a little bit of a wobble before half-time. They looked like they were going to run away with it early on.

Devastating start. Morgan Rodgers,gers all game looked pretty much unplayable but they got there they got there in the end in fairness uh celtic never never really looked threatening enough in the second half villa had chances they didn't didn't take them and at three two you thought maybe celtic will just create an opportunity just you just never know that they eventually got over the line and deservedly so. So now they can put the feet up while the other teams are playing in the play-off round and much deserved, all things being equal.

That's a tremendous achievement for Aston Villa. Let's hear from Unai Emery. Good evening. Of course, we are very proud of our work. And today was a fantastic day because the atmosphere was fantastic. The fans, they were excited as well, very motivated.

It was a very good match. We are having players interested for other clubs, paying good money for us. But of course course our objective here is to keep because we want to be in the sport

side in the level we are and to keep it for a long time is the most difficult challenge we have and I don't know

exactly until everything is done if John Duran is leaving or not but if he is leaving it's good news for

us because it's because they are paying good money because it's good for him because as well Vse je, če je John Duran živ, ali ne. Če je živ, je to dobro za nas. Zato, ker imajo dobro penjeno, ker je dobro za njega, ker smo razvijali jedno mladih igrača v dvaj letih. Zato je dobro, da imamo pridružje za drugi klubi. Zato je dobro. Vsak prostor lahko je dobro za igrača, o interés é bom, pero non quero. Por supuesto, todos os lugares podem estar no mercado

en caso de que sea bueno para o jugador, para o club e para o equipo. Pero, para conseguir este negocio, por supuesto,

vamos a ser muy demandantes. E o Watkins é o nosso estricador. Con o John Durant, se vive, por supuesto, é porque lo quiere.

Lo quiero aquí. Pero, ¿qué quiere? if he's leaving, of course it's because he wants. I want him here. But what does he want? With your Celtic hat on then, Chris, knock out Champions League football for the first time for Celtic in a very, very long time.

Obviously, any team just wants to get as far in the competition as they can. But playing Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in this competition, you'd love that, wouldn't you? You don't look at that and think, oh God, how are they going to win that? No, I mean, Celtic have played, I think,

Real Madrid in recent times, I think, that was Ange Postacoglu, where for an hour at Celtic Park, Celtic actually played Real Madrid off the park. As a pity, they had to play another 30 minutes because Real Madrid ended up winning 3-0 and then Celtic lost 5-1, I think, in the away fixture. Bayern Munich, I think Celtic have played a few times over the years in the Champions League.

Look, there's no doubt Celtic will go into whoever they come up against as massive, massive underdogs. But they have earned the right to be in the playoffs. And I have been really pleasantly surprised from this Champions League campaign. The little things Ian touched on before the game, Atalanta away, getting a goalless draw, Zagreb away, it might not sound a lot,

but Celtic's wretched record, and I was part of that wretched away record in the Champions League you know not good enough and they sort of they've shown maturity they've shown that they have made progress but I do think a couple of things tonight a couple of young lads Brendan Rodgers brought on Dane Murray and Daniel Cummings that may have been a little message to the Celtic board to say hang on a minute I need a bit a bit more help in this transfer window and need a few players in just to finish the season stronger. All right well we'll come back to big picture stuff with all of

you in a second let's just wrap up the other British teams the other two teams that went through automatically Liverpool did that by winning the Champions League League phase despite Connor McNamara losing in their final game. Yeah, their first Champions League defeat under Arne Slott. PSV's win does see them qualified for the playoffs, so great celebrations at the end. But let's face it, Slott was always relaxed about this game. We knew he was from the moment the team sheets came out. Liverpool making nine changes for the win over Ipswich.

He started with four players in the team aged 21 or under. Trey Nione came on. He became Liverpool's youngest ever player in European competition. Another youngster, Mauro Nalo came on and he was sent off soon after as Liverpool finished with 10 men. But it was a night that Liverpool always knew they were going through anyway and it

really wouldn't have mattered had they finished first or second in terms of the calibre of opponent that they'll face now in the knockout stages. But there is always a prestige to winning any group, to topping any table. And Liverpool finish where, since the arrival of Arne Slot, they will feel is now their natural habitat.

They finish on top and ahead of all the rest. We can hear from the Liverpool manager. Here's Arne Slot. I don't know if it's a big achievement, but it's a good achievement to end up top of this league. But as I said many times, it's so hard to judge a league table after eight games, let alone if all the teams play different opponents. So it doesn't tell me much, to be honest,

because some teams have faced easier opponents than others. But it's always nice if there's a new format that you end up number one, Het is altijd leuk als er een nieuwe format is waarbij je nummer 1 komt. Maar dat geeft ons geen verzekering voor de volgende ronde. Als ik nu de leegtafel kijk en de vier teams zie, dan kunnen we vier fase maken. Dat is de verschil tussen PSV, die ik niet helemaal begrijp. Maar we kunnen die vier tegenkomen. En die vier zijn er zeker wel een die je hoeft niet tegen te maken als je eerst in een groep als deze komt. Je moet heel veel sympathie hebben voor de poor lad.

Hij is er maar vier minuten gespeeld. Wat zou je zeggen om hem te lichten? Het is zo vreselijk wat er aan hem gebeurt. Ja, het is vreselijk, maar hij heeft nooit eerst in het voetbal gespeeld. to him to lift his spirits? Because it's so cruel really what happened to him at the end. Yeah, it's cruel, but he's never played first team football yet. And then to make a debut at the Champions League level is probably the hardest way of making a debut. And yeah, I think he misinterpreted the situation. And that is immediately a problem at this level or a Premier League level so it's it's a big moment for him to learn from and it is cruel indeed you think in a moment like this Tim Mims for the end gonna make my debut in a Champions League and a few minutes later you go

off with a red card that is always difficult but yeah a career mainly is not always positive it's there are also negatives and he has to fight very hard to make sure he will ever play a second Champions League game again, which is not going to be easy, but hopefully he will. Depending on how the draw works out, there is a possibility of a Liverpool-Aston Villa Champions League quarter-final. Liverpool, by the way, of course now, because of the fact that they finished in the top two,

they cannot play any of the rest of the top six until at least a semi-final. So Liverpool's route to the Champions League semi-finals potentially. They can't play Barcelona or Arsenal or Inter or Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen. Arsenal themselves have got Feyenoord, Juventus, Milan, PSV Eindhoven, all as possible opponents in the round of 16. They finished third, John Southall. They did. They beat Girona by two goals to one. A good night, I think you have to say, for Arsenal in Catalonia.

And Mikel Arteta will be delighted with a third-place finish in this league phase. They trailed 1-0 after Dan Duma's opening goal. Horrible moment for Neto, the goalkeeper, on his debut. He will not want to watch that back. Jorginho equalised with a penalty and then 17-year-old Ethan Wanyeri scored a beauty. His first Champions League goal, a special night for him and he is a special talent. Arsenal were comfortable really in the second half.

Stuani had a goal disallowed for Girona and Lopez saved a sterling penalty late on. But a sixth win from eight in the Champions League for Arsenal, just three goals conceded and only one from open play. And they can now pack up their Champions League aspirations until March. Next on the horizon for them, Manchester City on Sunday. And we can hear from Mikel Arteta. We love watching Champions League matches.

We're going to have the privilege to be sitting at home and analysing and watching who we can face afterwards. It's so tough. I think we won the last four games in the Champions League. But what you have to do to win football matches in this competition is very demanding. We faced a group that was very tricky and difficult. But overall, I think the very tricky and difficult but overall I think the team has been very consistent regardless of all the issues that we had to face and hopefully more belief in that dressing room that we are a good team and we can face anybody and still perform and win games. A bit early to say but in terms of the keeping situation, if David is injured, do you think

Neto is able to deputise for him this season? Yes, that's why he's here, to do that job. He's done it for 20-odd years in his career. What did you make of his performance today? I'm very happy. First of all, he played. It's been seven or eight, since he played his last competitive match. And it's not easy, so I'm very happy that he played and we won the game. League's team as we bring you the latest from across the continent with a host of top European football journalists. It's okay to be able to play the ball, but you need to actually fight for the ball as well. That's what he wants of his players. I think that maybe it would be the club that could revive

his self-esteem and his confidence and I think it could do wonders for the player to really grow. The EuroLeague's only on the Football Daily. Listen on BBC Sounds. On the Football Daily podcast, the Champions League debrief with Steve Crossman.

Listen on BBC Sounds. There are so many big games and so many big potential games in this Champions League. John Murray, I am enjoying having this and I know we have to wait for a couple of sets of draws to know it properly. But having that sort of bracket in front of you and being able to say,

oh, you know, maybe Liverpool, Paris, Saint-Germain in the round of 16 and being able to go almost the whole way through is quite exciting, actually. Yeah, it works that. And we only need two more draws now. So we need the draw on Friday and then the draw next month to work out exactly who it is that the teams will play in the quarterfinal. And after that, it's all set. As you've said, you can already look there and see the route through.

Izzy, your opinion was split at the start of tonight. I mean, I think you were going to be swayed one way or the other by full time. Do you think? Do you think? I'm still in the same boat as I was pre-match i am i'm sorry i'm not very interesting but i'm still not i think do you know what it probably is crossy and i probably hope i'm relating to a lot of listeners right now i'll be honest i don't think i fully understand it i need a little bit of time to feel it out maybe i'm gonna need a season i don't know to maybe make my judgment but i do think there's pros and cons i do think that but i just i'm just not sold on enjoying it yet i just i think i'm a sucker for watching the champions league when i was growing up the group

stages the home and away legs the groups of four that then into the round of 16 quarterfinals that's how i've always thought of the Champions League growing up. And maybe I'm just scared of change, Crossy. I think the fairness, you know, my point about fairness still very much holds. Yes. And I think that sport works best when you keep it simple. When it's simple and people can understand it very clearly. I just think this is a little bit too complicated.

It's kind of made for TV. Well, so Ian Dennis, let me bring you in on that, because that was one of the questions that occurred to me, is this has been a really fascinating and exciting night for us, for all of us, because we've got it all in front of us. It's not really geared toward the match-going fan, this, is it? Probably not, no. I mean, I'd worked out in the first half alone,

I think the top eight had changed at least five times in terms of positions with teams dropping out. I mean, for Milan and Atalanta, the two teams who've ultimately dropped out of those automatic places for the last 16, they're now in the playoffs. But I would imagine if you're the paying spectator then it's probably not for you it's you know trying to keep on top of it on your on your phone but then for the paying spectator VAR isn't necessarily suited for

them either is it so as John has already mentioned I think it is geared towards television but I think I think it has well from from a neutral's point of view, in my opinion of covering it, I think it has been a success, because unlike the previous format, you look at Liverpool, they've faced the champions of Spain, the champions of Germany in this league phase, they've also started out with a tricky test at Milan in San Siro, you know, the quality games have improved, you had a real sense of jeopardy and drama throughout the night

so I would imagine that UEFA will be very very pleased with how the format's been received Ian's at Villa Park let's get some more reaction from there here's the Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers It was a brilliant game to be involved in the word that strikes me at the moment is pride I think that we're coming to a team that over the last couple of years Mae'r gair sy'n fy ngwneud yn fy mhrofiad yn hyn yn gyffredinol. Rwy'n credu ein bod ni'n dod i ddod i'r tîm sydd wedi bod yn y lefel uchel yn y Llywodraeth Cymru dros y diwethaf diwethaf.

Ac yn amlwg, rydyn ni'n gweld nhw yn Ewrop. Rydyn ni'n chwarae gyda llawer o ddysg yn y gêm. Rydyn ni'n dechrau'n dda, rydyn ni'n dangos cymhwyso a thwylliant gyda'r golau. Ac yna, yn ychydig o blynedd, mae'n cael y golau cyntaf,af, gol ail gyntaf. Yna, mae cwestiwn yn cael ei ofyn i chi fel tîm, eich ysbryd, eich mentali, eich cwreidd, popeth am chi ar y lefel hon. Yn ffyrdd â'r gêm Dortmund, roedden ni'n dda yn y nos, ond rydym ni wedi dysgu o hynny, cael y setback. Rydym ni wedi mynd i Atalanta a chael ein llif glas i gyd. Rydym ni wedi dod yma heno, rydym ni'n ymwneud â'r gêm, ac rydyn ni'n gwybod back we've gone away to atalanta and kept a clean sheet and uh we come here tonight we're in the game and we know it's either about real madrid or baron munich in the next next round so that'll be obviously a huge challenge for us but i think we're building confidence at this level and showing that

we're a team that can play and can can work well and make it really really difficult for the top teams brendan rogers and as we've been telling you celtic in the playoff round are going to have a and can work well and make it really, really difficult for the top teams. Brendan Rodgers, and as we've been telling you, Celtic in the playoff round are going to have a glamour tie against Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Chris Sutton, just listening to Brendan Rodgers there, I mean, he's the perfect guy to take them forward to that now, isn't he? Yes, absolutely, and he's earned the right. When you think of his first spell at Celtic, there was

criticism of Brendan Rodgers at Champions League level, they had a couple of miserable experiences, I mean Ian said before the game against Unai Emery's PSG they'd beaten 7-5, I think the previous season they'd lost 7-0 to Barcelona and then they were knocked out

in the qualifying stages to AEK. Last season was a disappointment. So this season was massive for Brendan Rodgers. And they have been really competitive. Leipzig, you know, was the standout performance where they really controlled the game at Celtic Park. Thoroughly deserved the three points. But overall, to actually qualify, it is such a big deal for Celtic,

such a big deal for Scottish football and certainly for Brendan Rodgers. But, you know, whether it's Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, Celtic will go into the game with confidence. And they just need a little bit of... Brendan Rodgers does need a little bit of help now, though, in terms of bringing a couple of players in before the end of the window. Before this season Steve, his record in the Champions League

was so underwhelming, three wins six draws and 15 defeats in this year's campaign he's changed that a little bit now with three wins three draws and two defeats and they did recover from that battering in Dortmund so is Rodgers progressing like Celtic in terms of learning?

Absolutely. And the sort of buzzword at press conferences has been maturity, you know, and the team have shown they've matured. But they need to try and build and sustain this over a number of seasons now in the Champions League. This can't just be a one-off. All right, Chris, Ian, thank you both very much indeed. Ian Dennis, Chris Sutton at Villa Park, Aston Villa 4, Celtic 2,

Celtic into the play-off round, Real Madrid on the way, or Bayern Munich for them, Aston Villa through automatically. Back at the Etihad, John Murray, just sum this all up for us because I don't think we'll soon forget the first Champions League league phase. Well, I think first of all, I think the question has to be asked, you know, now Manchester City have got themselves into the playoff round, having come into these final matches in the elimination zone. Can they go on and actually win the Champions League this season? I think the answer to that has to be yes. If they get the players fit and okay, Rodri is not going to be around,

but if they have better fortune with injuries in the second half of the season than they did in the first half of the season, there is a long history in this competition in the Champions League of teams going a long way when they're not doing so well and challenging for their domestic league title. And overall, yeah, thrills and spills

have been provided. As UEFA said, it has proved to be more competitive across the piece. They say it's delivered on its promise. And, you know,

I think we have to believe them. Yeah, and we'll have much more on that in the And, you know, I think we have to believe them. Yeah, and we'll have much more on that in the Euroleagues tomorrow, no doubt. John Murray, Izzy Christian, thank you both very much indeed. John and Izzy,

inside the Etihad, Manchester City 3, Club Bruges 1. So that's all of the British clubs covered, and a lot of them have massive potential ties coming up.

John Bennett's been watching all of this unfold with us this evening. But there are so many great stories actually in this Champions League now. There are. And I think Lille have to be up there. Ian Dennis mentioned their 6-1 win against Feyenoord. There were two own goals in that game. So Lille straight through into the last 16.

Barcelona 2, Atalanta 2. A brave fight from Atalanta, but they dropped out of the last 16. Barcelona 2, Atalanta 2. A brave fight from Atalanta, but they dropped out of the top eight. AC Milan dropped out of the top eight as well due to a defeat to Dinamo Zagreb. But a long time ago, Steve, we were talking about Paris Saint-Germain being in danger. They needed a draw against Stuttgart. And what a performance.

4-1 win, 3-0 up by 35 minutes. Ousmane Dembele with a hat-trick. We're wondering, are Manchester City one of the favourites again to win the Champions League? What about Paris Saint-Germain? They have to be one of the favourites again. Great stuff. John, Statman, thank you both very much indeed.

John Bennett, Statman Dave, who've been with us in studio. Wow. I mean, I'd say breed, but we're going to do all of this again in the Europa League phase. Both Tottenham and Manchester United are hoping to go through automatically to the last 16. Spurs at home to Elfsborg at eight o'clock. We will be bringing you full commentary of the artists formerly known as Stour Bucharest at home to Manchester United. That's it for this episode of the Football Daily. Also out now on the feed, 72 Plus,

our EFL podcast with Aaron Paul, Joby McEnuff and Lyle Taylor. As ever, thank you so much for listening. In the shadows of Glasgow, two crime families rose to power. You're either with the Daniel family or you're with the Lyons family. There's no in between. A brutal war for control of Glasgow's lucrative drug trade that still rages today. Police think it's the work of a criminal gang. Join me, Livvy Haydock, as I investigate the battle

that shattered the old-school rules of crime. They're just terrorising people, whatever they're meant. Gangster, the story of the Daniels and the Lions. Listen on BBC Sounds.