The first season of the new 36-team, single-league table UEFA Champions League built to a crescendo on Wednesday night with all the final games kicking off at the same time — and it delivered the drama and chaos we crave.
Much of the focus, naturally, fell on the varying fortunes of the big guns: Manchester City squeezed into top 24, Paris Saint-Germain needed a win to be certain of qualifying, while AC Milan fell unceremoniously out of the top eight with a 2-1 loss to Dinamo Zagreb.
But for every top team underperforming, there’s an underdog seizing their moment and taking their place. And during this phase, Aston Villa, Lille, Brest, Celtic and Club Brugge certainly rose to the occasion as they all secured unexpected placings in the next round.
There are some common themes among the teams who exceed expectations: They all benefited from the new format’s more egalitarian outlook on fixtures, they all had one particularly spectacular result that changed their outlook, and almost all of them can thank their goalkeepers for some truly sensational performances.
What drove their success: Brilliant goalkeeping, young stars flourishing and Jonathan David penalties
Lille fought tooth and nail to even get into the Champions League group phase, counting on a 118th-minute penalty from Jonathan David to beat Fenerbahce in the third qualifying round then squeezing past Slavia Prague 3-2 on aggregate to make the league phase. The range of emotions these players and fans had experienced before they’d even confirmed their place in the competition proper was remarkable.
Lille started poorly, falling 2-0 to Sporting CP in a run of four straight losses across all competitions. It was a surprise to everyone, therefore, when they tightened up and deservedly beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the second game; then came a downright shock when a heavily rotated and young XI sent to play Atlético Madrid returned with a 3-1 win.
David scored a penalty in each of those games, which became a clear theme of their Champions League campaign, but it’s important that doesn’t distract from another important theme: Bruno Génésio’s bold decision to trust youngsters on the biggest stage. Ayyoub Bouaddi made his professional debut against Real Madrid on his 17th birthday, three of the starters away to Atleti were aged 20 or younger, and 20-year-old Ngal’Ayel Mukau was the man of the match with two goals in the win over Bologna. Underpinning all of this was Lucas Chevalier‘s excellence between the sticks. The 23-year-old is one of Europe’s finest young goalkeepers and delivered fine performances.
Opta gave Lille just a 33% chance of reaching the top eight heading into the final night, but beating Feyenoord 6-1 in a bizarre game that featured two own-goals by the same player, Gernot Trauner, allowed them to edge past AC Milan and Atalanta.
What drove their success: A famous Bayern win, Jhon Durán wondergoals and Morgan Rogers‘ breakout season
This is Aston Villa’s first Champions League campaign for 42 years and while Premier League teams are expected to perform strongly in Europe, a top-eight finish wasn’t ever seriously talked about before the competition began. But three straight wins to begin, including a famous 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich, changed expectations and paved the path to success.
Those first three performances were very different to the following five — they came at a time where Villa were playing confident football, so Young Boys and Bologna were dismantled, while Bayern were seen off thanks to incredible grit, determination and a wondergoal from Jhon Durán. Morgan Rogers also exploded onto the European scene, as his direct dribbling style took teams apart.
From there, things got stickier, and in the end Villa did just enough, overcoming some bizarre moments to qualify. In their trips to Monaco and Club Brugge they struggled. And in Brugge, Tyrone Mings picked the ball up in his own box from a goal kick (resulting in the penalty that won the game). On the penultimate day in Leipzig, they played exhilarating-but-fragile football to win 3-2.
That left a must-win home bout with Celtic on a final matchday which ended up a carnival of emotion. They went 2-0 up, were pegged back to 2-2, hit the post, had a shot cleared off the line and missed a penalty en route to an eventual 4-2 win, with Rogers completing a hat trick late on to seal it.
