Champions League Power Rankings ahead of last 16: Tottenham 13th, Real Madrid 5th… | OneFootball

The Champions League league phase and play-off round is behind us. We can reheat the debates about the new format next year, but for now we can look ahead to when the competition really gets going.

Serie A champions Napoli couldn’t even make it out of the league phase, while last season’s finalists Inter suffered a shock elimination. But most of the big dogs remain, and things look wide open ahead of the proper knockout stages.

We’ve ranked all 16 of the remaining teams in the Champions League.

16. Bayer Leverkusen

Leverkusen’s reward for their under-the-radar, professional 2-0 job on Olympiacos in the play-off round? Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the Round of 16.

Two short straws.

15. Atalanta

Atalanta took all those thinkpieces about the death of Serie A personally, ensuring they’ll be some Italian representation in the last 16 by producing an inspired second-leg comeback against Borussia Dortmund.

But like Leverkusen, it’ll Arsenal or Bayern in the next round. Good luck, lads.

14. Sporting Lisbon

It’s perhaps a tad harsh given that Sporting are the reigning champions of Portugal, and finished in the top eight ahead of the likes of Real Madrid and PSG (who they beat).

But they do feel like your classic ‘make up the numbers’ Round of 16 side.

Whatever happens next – either Bodo/Glimt or Real Madrid – will be interesting. They might have more mileage yet, but we’d be amazed if they make it past the last eight.

Prove us wrong, Lions.

13. Tottenham

Given that they’re currently battling relegation, there’s a solid argument Spurs should be bottom of this list.

That feels a more true reflection of their current level than finishing fourth in the league phase table.

But therein lies the paradox of this team. As with finishing on less than 40 points while winning the Europa League (beating Bodo/Glimt en route) last season, they’re a perplexing beast – but evidently capable of raising their game in Europe.

We wouldn’t put it past Spurs to go further, but we’d expect them to come unstuck against superior Premier League opposition or the top sides from the continent.

12. Galatasaray

The Turkish Super Lig giants have made it to the Round of 16 for the first time in 12 years.

Galatasaray boast genuine quality, with Victor Osimhen the envy of Europe when it comes to centre-forwards, and Istanbul remains your archetypal ‘tough place to go’.

But a not-great Juventus showed they can be got at, even with ten men producing a three-goal comeback that forced the tie to extra time.

Any side with ambitions of lifting the trophy should back themselves to weather the storm away and get the job done at home.

11. Newcastle United

There’s a potential scenario in which the Magpies’ route to the final would be Chelsea in the Round of 16, Tottenham or Liverpool in the quarters, and Arsenal or Manchester City in the semis.

What an anticlimax that would be, after such a non-event walkover over Qarabag, for Newcastle’s first-ever appearance in the knockout stages of Europe’s premier cup competition.

The alternative to Chelsea would be Barcelona, who won fairly comfortably on Tyneside back in September.

But we look at Newcastle’s forwards, and Barca’s suicidal high line (exposed badly in defeats to Girona, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Real Madrid this season), and there could be joy.

Newcastle’s bottom-half standing shows they’re not the same force as last season.

But the St. James’ Park factor and the odd result (beating City,  drawing away to PSG) shows they ought not to be taken lightly. And they’ll be putting everything into this basket.

10. Atletico Madrid

It’s approaching five years since Atletico last won silverware. So already being adrift of a not-especially-vintage La Liga title race feels like a disappointing return.

On the plus side, with a top-four finish practically in the bag, they can afford to focus solely on the cup competitions.

They have one foot in the Copa del Rey final, while their 5-2 and 4-0 victories over Real Madrid and Barcelona will give them hope of producing something special in Europe.

Atleti have been eliminated by Real Madrid in knockouts as much as every other club combined in the Diego Simeone era. But the bracket has kept the city rivals apart until the final this year. Gulp.

First up, they face Liverpool or Tottenham. They’d be licking their lips at Spurs, while they have form for spoiling Liverpool’s fun.

9. Bodo/Glimt

What more is there to say about Bodo? Let alone Glimt.

Opta gave the Norwegians a 0.3% chance of advancing to the round of 16 after they failed to win any of their first six matches in the league phase.

We can seldom remember anything more remarkable than following that up with four successive victories over Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Inter (twice).

You know all about the plastic pitch and the Arctic Circle, but winning at the Metropolitano and San Siro are feats even Europe’s traditional big dogs would hang their hat on.

The fact that they were well worth all of those wins, in a variety of ways, is evidence that this fairytale still has legs to run. They’re already our second favourite Champions League underdogs ever

8. Barcelona

The fact that the three sides Barcelona faced in the knockouts last season (Benfica, Dortmund and Inter) have failed to make the Round of 16 takes some of the shine off last season’s eye-catching run to the semis.

This team still has plenty to prove, including jumping the hurdle of the genuine European elite.

Intuitively, we still feel as though any serious team will be able to exploit Hansi Flick’s daring tactical approach. At their worst, they can be made to look like Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham.

And yet, they lead La Liga, are tracking for 90+ points, won a domestic treble last season, and came within a whisker of reaching the Champions League final.

When the likes of Pedri, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal are clicking at their brilliant best, stopping them becomes a lot easier in theory than in practice.

Whatever happens, we hope the Camp Nou atmosphere is more cauldron and less Disneyland.

7. Chelsea

The Blues cemented their ‘dark horses’ status early, completely outplaying freshly-crowned European champions PSG in last summer’s Club World Cup final.

They followed that up with a similarly emphatic win over Barcelona in this year’s league phase.

It’s been a strange season, and they’re adapting to something a bit different under Liam Rosenior. But we still wouldn’t put it past Chelsea to take some big scalps in this year’s knockout stages.

Where we could see Chelsea coming unstuck is when facing fellow Premier League opposition.

They were outplayed by Arsenal in the League Cup semis and their record in ‘big six’ outings in the league is decidedly mixed.

6. Liverpool

The reigning Premier League champions have shown improvement since their disastrous run of defeats back in the autumn.

But while results have picked up, their performances remain distinctly unconvincing. They were honking against Nottingham Forest last time out.

Still, this squad possesses both the experience and quality to go on and make something of this season. The four points they’ve taken from Arsenal this season show they’re capable of edging any two-legged tie if properly locked in.

5. Real Madrid

As ever when judging Real Madrid in Europe, we’re throwing logic out of the window and going with vibes.

The TNT Sports’ commentary team of Darren Fletcher and Steve McManaman could scarcely believe how ordinary Los Blancos looked as they completed the job against Benfica. And we share in that opinion. This is not a good team. They are patently unconvincing.

But how often would we have said exactly that at this stage of the season in the years they went on to lift the trophy? Never write them off.

4. Manchester City

It’s five successive wins in all competitions, and they’re very much alive on four fronts, but this still does not feel like the vintage Man City juggernaut that’d take maximum points come the spring.

Hear us out, but maybe that will suit them in Europe. Pep Guardiola’s very best City sides that played with maximum control, suffocating the opposition, usually found themselves coming unstuck, often in shocking ways, in the Champions League.

Maybe leaning into the chaos will work for them this time. Or maybe they’ll get dumped out by Real Madrid again in the next round. Either sounds plausible to us.

3. PSG

Not since Pep Guardiola’s era-defining Barcelona team has a team won the Champions League so comprehensively. Luis Enrique’s PSG were outstanding last season.

You’d think that’d be enough for them to have a lock on the top spot, but every passing month raises more questions.

They were done by Chelsea in the Club World Cup. They’re barely ahead of Lens in Ligue 1, and were dumped out of the French Cup at home to minnow neighbours Paris FC.

They didn’t even finish in the top eight of the league phase, having failed to beat Athletic Bilbao, Sporting Lisbon or Newcastle. And they only squeaked through against an average Monaco in the play-off round.

All of that is pretty compelling evidence they won’t become only the second side (after Real Madrid) to retain the trophy in the modern Champions League era.

But we know how good this team can be, and we’d have faith in Luis Enrique to get them clicking when things really start to matter.

2. Bayern Munich

Things couldn’t conceivably have gone better for Bayern so far this season.

Top two in the league phase, what should be a favourable route to the final, and on track to win a domestic double and break all sorts of records in the process.

It’s no fault of Vincent Kompany’s – you can only beat who’s in front of you – but the Bundesliga tax does apply here.

Their 3-1 loss to Arsenal in November leaves the question of whether they’re quite at the level to beat the best of Europe. That’s not to say they aren’t; it’ll be fun to find out.

1. Arsenal

It was only a week ago that the word “bottlers” led a thousand headlines. Guilty, your honour.

The question over whether Mikel Arteta’s Gunners have the minerals to make it over the line will define the coming months.

But strangely enough, given that Arsenal have never won the Champions League, the anxiety psychodrama that threatens to envelop their Premier League campaign doesn’t seem to apply in Europe.

They were perfect in the league phase. Eight wins from eight, 23 goals scored and just four conceded. But most striking of all, there was a refreshing breeziness, almost looking pressure-free, that stood in stark contrast to domestic matters.

Topping the league phase table ought to bear fruit, too. Their Round of 16 draw looks very favourable, and having the second leg at home all the way to the final could be massive.