Champions League Standings 24/25: the 12 teams that have been eliminated

Published:30/01/2025 - 06:41h

Updated:30/01/2025 - 18:32h

The UEFA Champions League confirmed on Wednesday its first 12 eliminated clubs after the league phase. Teams like Girona and Leipzig fell by the wayside

The league phase of the UEFA Champions League concluded on Wednesday and, with it, 12 clubs bid farewell to the competition, while another 24 remain in the 'race' for the 'big ear'. Dinamo Zagreb, Stuttgart, and Shakhtar Donetsk arrived with mathematical possibilities of making it into the TOP-24, but ultimately exited the tournament through the back door, although the Croatians at least did so with a commendable home victory against AC Milan.

The Zagreb team took advantage of Yunus Musah's expulsion in the 39' to win 2-1, although the 'rossoneri' managed to equalize in the second half. For Sérgio Conceição's team, the defeat meant they were out of the direct qualification spots for the round of 16, while the Croatians finished with the same points (11) as the last three teams in the TOP-24 (Manchester City, Sporting CP, and Bruges), but the goal difference of -7 ultimately condemned them.

The same happened with Stuttgart. The Germans could have made it into the 'play-off' even with a draw at home against Paris Saint-Germain, but they were thrashed by Luis Enrique's team in a match where Ousmane Dembélé scored his first 'hat-trick' in Europe (1-4). Shakhtar had it much harder, as they depended not only on themselves but also on other results to enter as the twenty-fourth qualifier. Ultimately, the defeat against Borussia Dortmund (3-1) extinguished any hope for the Ukrainians.

Leipzig, Girona, and Bologna, the big disappointments

Of the 12 eliminated, RB Leipzig undoubtedly left the worst impressions in the league phase. The Germans had been a tough nut to crack in recent editions, giving Real Madrid a lot of 'trouble' in the round of 16 last season. However, in 2024/25 they only managed 1 victory at home against Sporting CP (2-1) and 7 defeats, two of which were against lower-ranked teams like Celtic and Sturm Graz.

The same happened with Girona. The Catalans made six of their seven defeats hard-fought (only PSV thrashed them 4-0), but they barely managed to defeat Slovan Bratislava (2-0) and even lost in their visit to Sturm (1-0). The team led by Míchel missed several of their key players from last season (Dovbyk, Savinho, Eric García...) and exited the tournament with a bitter taste.

A similar situation was experienced by Bologna. The Italians, now without Thiago Motta on the bench, could only win 1 match, although they ended up drawing another 3 (Shakhtar, Benfica, and Sporting) to climb to 28th place. The victory against Dortmund at home (2-1) was historic for a team that did not lose any match by more than 2 goals difference.

Salzburg, Slovan, and Young Boys fuel criticism of the format

Meanwhile, Salzburg, Slovan Bratislava, and Young Boys were by far the worst teams in the tournament. The Slovaks and the Swiss lost all eight of their matches, conceding 27 and 24 goals, respectively. Young Boys, in fact, could barely score 3 goals, and in the case of Salzburg, beyond the victory in Feyenoord's field in matchday 4 (1-3), they also ended up conceding 27 goals, averaging 3.37 goals per match.

The fragility of the teams at the bottom of the standings fuels criticism of a format that, while created to maintain excitement from start to finish in defining the qualifiers for the round of 16, confirms the enormous gap between elite clubs and lower-tier leagues. Not surprisingly, 9 of the 12 eliminated already knew their fate before matchday 8 and the same number was practically sentenced since matchday 6 (in the case of Bologna, Red Star, Sturm Graz, Girona, Leipzig, and Sparta Prague, as well as the three bottom teams).