After 18 simultaneous games to wrap up the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in 2025-26 in dramatic fashion, we summarise the night with six headline stories.
What a night that was. Eighteen fixtures, 36 teams, 61 goals, twists and turns at every corner, and, with the very last kick of the whole league phase, a goalkeeper scoring a header to keep his team in the competition.
How do you sum up such an eventful night on one single web page? We’ve tried to do just that here, with six headline stories from the Champions League on Matchday 8.
A Very Good Night for the Premier League, But Not Quite Perfect
This is the first time that six teams from a single nation have all been in the Champions League at the same time, with half a dozen English representatives this season. And all but one of them made it into last 16 after finishing inside the top eight of the league phase.
That is after wins for Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City on Wednesday night put those four teams into the knockout rounds. They join Arsenal, who made Champions League history by becoming the first team to win eight league-phase games after seeing off lowly Kairat at the Emirates.
Newcastle failed to make it six out of six for the Premier League contingent in the knockouts after drawing away to Paris Saint-Germain, but they did come painfully close to finding a winner, only for Harvey Barnes to miss a massive chance on the break with only a few minutes left on the clock.
They may nevertheless consider themselves a little fortunate to have drawn given Ousmane Dembélé missed a fourth-minute penalty. Clocked at 3:49, it was the fourth earliest penalty save on record (since 2003-04) in Champions League history.
However, Eddie Howe’s side recovered, and in the end were good value for the draw, even if PSG edged the stats. Newcastle head into the play-off, where they’ll face Monaco or Qarabag, but there are some very big names heading into the two-legged play-off round that they will be pleased to have avoided.
Giants Head For the Play-Offs
As well as reigning champions PSG and Newcastle, Atlético Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Inter and Juventus will all be playing an extra two-legged play-off to get into the last 16.
And most shockingly, those teams will be joined by Real Madrid, who fell to a 4-2 defeat at Benfica, despite having taken the lead early on and looking, at that stage, extremely likely to stroll through.
Their problems of late have been well-documented, but their collapse was nonetheless staggering. After going 1-0 up on the half-hour mark, they were 3-1 down by 54 minutes. And after pulling another goal back, all they did was accumulate cards. Both Raúl Asensio and Rodrygo picked up two cautions each, meaning Madrid received two red cards in the same Champions League match for the first time since 23 November 2010 – when they were managed by the man in the opposition dugout here, José Mourinho.
It was a night of incredible drama, capped off most significantly by the last kick of the game in that match in Portugal…
Benfica’s Goalkeeper Makes History
When Fredrik Aursnes stood over the ball inside the Real Madrid half in the 98th minute of this match, he knew his delivery had to be inch perfect.
Benfica had won a free-kick with only seconds remaining and, despite leading the record European champions 3-2 at the time, were heading out of the Champions League. Luckily for them, Aursnes’ set-piece was inch perfect, but nobody would have expected Anatoliy Trubin to have got on the end of his inswinging cross.
The Ukrainian goalkeeper had been instructed to head forward for the set-piece by Mourinho, who knew Benfica still needed a goal to get into the play-off round. And as it happened, Trubin rose highest to power a header past Thibaut Courtois with the final action of a sensational game in Lisbon. That goal, with his first ever touch in the opposition half of the pitch across 40 Champions League appearances, sent Benfica into the play-offs at the expense of Marseille with the very last act of the 2025-26 league phase.
Anatoliy Trubin had never previously had a touch of the ball in the opposition half of the pitch in the UEFA Champions League before tonight's goal against Real Madrid.1,568 touches1 touch in the opposition box1 goal pic.twitter.com/BPK6NAy2xa
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) January 28, 2026It was the first goal scored by a goalkeeper against Real Madrid in European history, and just the seventh scored by a goalkeeper in Champions League history.
He’s still got some way to go before having as impressive a record as Jörg Butt, though. The German scored three goals against Juventus in the UCL, all for different clubs between 2000-2009.
Goalkeepers to Score in UEFA Champions League History
Jörg Butt for Hamburger SV vs Juventus – 13 September 2000 Jörg Butt for Bayer Leverkusen vs Juventus – 12 March 2002 Jörg Butt for Bayern Munich vs Juventus – 8 December 2009 Sinan Bolat for Standard Liège vs AZ – 9 December 2009 Vincent Enyeama for Hapoel Tel Aviv vs Lyon – 29 September 2010 Ivan Provedel for Lazio vs Atlético Madrid – 19 September 2023 Anatoliy Trubin for Benfica vs Real Madrid – 29 January 2026Chelsea Come Back From the Brink to Progress
Chelsea came through an extraordinary challenge against their former manager Antonio Conte in Naples to extend Liam Rosenior’s impressive start in charge.
They did not have it all their own way, but early on they were handed a gift when Juan Jesus inexplicably handled in the wall at a Reece James free-kick. Enzo Fernández stepped up to confidently dispatch the penalty, meaning Chelsea have scored their last 11 penalties in the Champions League, extending their longest ever run in the competition without missing a spot-kick.
At that stage, they were in the top eight and heading straight for the last 16 at that stage, but they wouldn’t stay there for long. The inexperienced Napoli midfielder Antonio Vergara danced through the heart of the Chelsea defence to equalise with his first goal for the club in just his fifth start.
And it got worse for Liam Rosenior’s side as former Manchester United forward Rasmus Højlund turned in Mathías Olivera’s low cross to put the hosts in front just before half-time. The Dane has scored 10 goals in 28 appearances for Napoli in all competitions this season, as many as he managed in 52 outings for United last term.
Chelsea plummeted down the table. After an hour they were 13th, with their chances of making it into the top eight rated at just 12.1% according to the Opta supercomputer.
They were drifting and lacking in inspiration, but then up popped João Pedro with about as valuable and high-quality a brace as you’ll ever see. Thanks to that double, Chelsea stormed into the top eight and straight into the knockout stages.
Why Mbappé Might Be Happy About Having Two Extra Games
Okay, nobody at Real Madrid will be glad that they lost to Benfica and now face a two-legged play-off – potentially against Benfica, the team who beat them on Wednesday night.
It was a night to forget for everyone at Madrid, but on an individual level for Kylian Mbappé, there was one slither of positivity.
The Frenchman’s well-taken brace took him to 13 goals in the Champions League this season, meaning he already, after just the league phase, within four goals of the record in a single season, currently held by Cristiano Ronaldo (17 in 2013-14 for Real Madrid)
Mbappé chases history
Champions LeagueMost Champions League Goals in a Season by a Player
2 hours ago Matt FurnissGoing into the play-off round means Mbappé could play another nine games in this season’s competition, giving him plenty of chances to overtake Ronaldo.
Of course, on this evidence, there’s little hope that Madrid will make it as far as the final, and Benfica certainly won’t fear them if they do face them again. Mbappé might in fact have to hurry up if he wants to break this particular record.
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
When the Opta supercomputer simulated the UEFA Champions League league phase 10,000 times before the campaign kicked off, it set some expectations for all 36 clubs. Now the opening round is done and dusted, some have exceeded those expectations, but some have thoroughly disappointed.
Given that Arsenal and Tottenham were deemed to have two of the four easiest league-phase schedules, it’s perhaps unsurprising to see both finish inside the top four of the table after eight matchdays.
Nonetheless, both Arsenal (+7.2) and Spurs (+4.7) exceeded their projected points totals, just behind the biggest overachievers Bayern Munich (+8.3), who collected an average of 12.7 points over the 10,000 supercomputer sims, but ended up winning 21 in reality.
Sporting surprised many with a seventh-place finish in the league phase, and they overachieved their projected points total by 4.6 to qualify directly for the last 16.
The two biggest disappointments of the league phase were undoubtedly Villarreal and Eintracht Frankfurt, who finished inside the bottom four of the standings.
La Liga side Villarreal’s league-phase schedule was deemed the fifth easiest of the 36 teams ahead of the action, based on the average rating of their eight opponents in the Opta Power Rankings. They won just one point, though, and that was 10.1 below their average across the pre-tournament simulations (11.1).
Must do better.
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A Chaotic Champions League Matchday 8 in Six Key Stories Opta Analyst.
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