There is a lot at stake in the final round of the Champions League matches, now that the competition phase is coming to an end, but some are worried that two clubs can make their rivals a painful blow by playing a favorable draw for both parties.
The new format of the competition has abolished eight groups of four and introduced a format in 'Swiss style'. This means that each of the 36 teams plays eight games and all scores points in one big league table.
Those who end up in the top eight go directly to the round of 16, while those in place 9 to 24 play for the remaining eight places. The lower twelve teams from Europe are eliminated, and nobody will move on to the Europa League.
The Focus match is Stuttgart's home game against Paris Saint-Germain. Although there are no indications that both teams have bad intentions, fans have noticed that a draw would fit both well.
PSG breathed new life into the campaign in the last game week by beating Manchester City with 4-2. In the meantime, Stuttgart won at Slovan Bratislava and joined the Parisians on 10 points.
Both are just above the dotted line, with PSG 22nd and Stuttgart 24th. Manchester City is in 25th place and their last game is against Club Brugge with 11 points and a less goal difference. So a point in Stuttgart would ensure that both clubs end up above City or Bruges.
Dinamo Zagreb is also on eight points and could reach the same level in a victory in their last game. But partly thanks to a 9-2 victory at Bayern Munich in September, they should beat AC Milan with a record margin.
“Wait until Stuttgart and PSG have their game in order and play them right”, a fan on social media joked. 'Schade van Gijon, anyone else', wrote another, a reference to a match at the 1982 World Cup in which West Germany and Austria played a result that made both teams eliminated and Algeria was eliminated.
Others suggested with a strong tongue in the cheek that we should not write off dinamo Zagreb so quickly. An 8-0 victory against Milan would bring them back to the mix, even if PSG and Stuttgart are drawn, although it is worth pointing out that Milan has admitted a total of only nine times in the seven games in the competition phase.
Further on at the table there is everything to play for when it comes to securing the remaining top eight places. Liverpool and Barcelona are the only teams that are already certain of one of those places, although Arsenal is in a strong position to join them because of their goal difference.
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