UEFA Champions League: The Final 16 are set

Match day 6 of UEFA Champions League action wrapped up today and the final 16 teams have been finalized. Heading into the last round of group stage matches several teams were in danger of falling out and into the Europa League - Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Inter Milan, and possibly even 2008-09 champions Barcelona. Here is a look at how each of the eight groups wrapped up. (Note - The top two teams, in green, advance to the knockout stages. The 3rd place team, in blue, moves into the Europa League).


Group A: 

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Bordeaux	6	5	1	0	9	2	+7	16
Bayern Munich	6	3	1	2	9	5	+4	10
Juventus	6	2	2	2	4	7	−3	8
Maccabi Haifa	6	0	0	6	0	8	−8	0

Group B:

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Manchester United	6	4	1	1	10	6	+4	13
CSKA Moscow	6	3	1	2	10	10	0	10
Wolfsburg	6	2	1	3	9	8	+1	7
Beşiktaş	6	1	1	4	3	8	−5	4

Group C:

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Real Madrid	6	4	1	1	15	7	+8	13
Milan	6	2	3	1	8	7	+1	9
Marseille	6	2	1	3	10	10	0	7
Zürich	6	1	1	4	5	14	−9	4

Group D:

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Chelsea	6	4	2	0	11	4	+7	14
Porto	6	4	0	2	8	3	+5	12
Atlético Madrid	6	0	3	3	3	12	−9	3
APOEL	6	0	3	3	4	7	−3	3

Group E:

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Fiorentina	6	5	0	1	14	7	+7	15
Lyon	6	4	1	1	12	3	+9	13
Liverpool	6	2	1	3	5	7	−2	7
Debrecen	6	0	0	6	5	19	−14	0

Group F:

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Barcelona	6	3	2	1	7	3	+4	11
Internazionale	6	2	3	1	7	6	+1	9
Rubin Kazan	6	1	3	2	4	7	−3	6
Dynamo Kyiv	6	1	2	3	7	9	−2	5

Group G:

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Sevilla	6	4	1	1	11	4	+7	13
Stuttgart	6	2	3	1	9	7	+2	9
Unirea Urziceni	6	2	2	2	8	8	0	8
Rangers	6	0	2	4	4	13	−9	2

Group H:

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Arsenal	6	4	1	1	12	5	+7	13
Olympiacos	6	3	1	2	4	5	−1	10
Standard Liège	6	1	2	3	7	9	−2	5
AZ	6	0	4	2	4	7	−3	4

The Knockout stages is set to begin on February 16th, 2010. The 16 remaining teams will be pair into 8 match-ups of group winners vs. group runner-ups. Two teams from the same nation or two teams from the same qualifying group can not face each other in the first knockout round. The draw for the first round of knockout matches is to be held on December 18th, 2009.

The biggest surprise from the group stage matches has to be the fact that Liverpool and Juventus did not advance. Champions League favorites did not top the points board, as Bordeaux and Fiorentina earned the most points in group play - 16 and 15 respectively. I think that this year's match-ups will be a lot closer with teams such as Sevilla and Lyon looking to take out a main contender in the next round. I'll be back after the draw to give you my analysis and prediction of each match-up. Thoughts on how the group stages finished up?