We are now into the business end of the tournament, and while some teams will already be dreaming of glory, others will be harbouring serious regrets
After a breathless fortnight of football of the highest level, the final eight clubs left in this season's Champions League have been decided. The quarter-final line up is a mouth-watering one, too, with Bayern Munich set to face off against Inter, holders Real Madrid taking on Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund tackling free-flowing Barcelona, and Aston Villa standing in the way of a new and improved Paris Saint-Germain.
A host of players stole the spotlight in the round of 16, but managers were not kept completely in the shade as shrewd tactical decisions turned the tide in several games. There were late goals, wonder strikes, and high-profile mistakes aplenty as fans were treated to end-to-end thrillers, fascinating chess matches, and the odd demolition job.
In the end, Liverpool, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica, Feyenoord, PSV, Club Brugge and Lille were all sent packing. A couple of those teams can point to bad luck as one of the main reasons for their failure, but others were guilty of freezing or underperforming on the biggest stage, and will spend the next few months doing some difficult soul-searching.
With all of that in mind, GOAL brings you the biggest winners and losers from the 2024-25 Champions League last-16…
GettyWINNER: Luis Enrique
After PSG's 2-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on October 1, for which Barcelona flop Ousmane Dembele was dropped for after an argument with Luis Enrique, you'd have been forgiven for thinking that the French giants were on course for yet another season of European disappointment. PSG also lost to Bayern and Atletico in the league phase, compounding an underwhelming start to the post-Kylian Mbappe era.
But Luis Enrique never doubted himself, or the potential of his young squad, and his patience has paid off. Now, PSG suddenly look like the best team in Europe. They were incredibly unfortunate to lose the first leg of their last-16 tie after battering runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool, and outplayed them again at Anfield, eventually emerging victorious after a dramatic penalty shootout.
Dembele is flying as the focal point in a frightening front-three alongside Bradley Barcola and January signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia; Vitinha is proving to be a massive upgrade on Marco Verratti; Marquinhos and Willian Pacho have formed a rock-solid centre-back partnership, and Gianluigi Donnarumma has been almost faultless between the sticks. It's Luis Enrique who deserves most of the credit, though, because in the space of just four months, he's transformed PSG into something they've never been before: one of the genuine favourites to win the Champions League.
AdvertisementGettyLOSER: Mohamed Salah
Before Tuesday, you'd have been hard-pressed to find anyone who didn't view Mohamed Salah as the frontrunner for the 2025 Ballon d'Or. Liverpool's 'Egyptian King' had 53 goal contributions to his name from 41 appearances in all competitions this season, including seven in the Champions League, and the expectation was he would continue his march towards a maiden Golden Ball by masterminding PSG's downfall at Anfield.
But after 120 minutes of pure frustration, the picture looks far less rosy for Salah. Nuno Mendes pocketed the 32-year-old at Parc des Princes and repeated the trick on Merseyside, albeit after an early burst from Liverpool that saw Salah spurn two golden opportunities.
Salah, who was visibly emotional after the final whistle, will surely be replaying those moments in his head for weeks to come. It doesn't matter how many more records Salah goes onto break en route to his second Premier League title, the Ballon d'Or is almost certainly out of his reach now, because his main rivals have all made it through to the latter stages of the Champions League.
The Liverpool talisman has blown his chance at being crowned the world's best player. Even if he ends up signing a new contract at Anfield, it's very difficult to imagine him repeating his superhuman exploits of this term. Salah has turned up on the biggest stage more than any other Liverpool player over the last seven years, but he'll pay a steep price for going missing against the Ligue 1 champions.
Getty Images SportWINNER: Harry Kane
Bayern stormed into the quarter-finals with a 5-0 aggregate victory over domestic rivals Bayer Leverkusen, and Kane grabbed three of the goals to take his overall tally in the Champions League for 2024-25 to 10 in 11 games – the most ever scored by an Englishman in a single season of the competition. Kane also provided the assist for Alphonso Davies to wrap up the 2-0 second-leg win at the BayArena, which saw him become only the second Three Lions player to ever reach 50 goal involvements in the Champions League after a certain David Beckham.
Those are remarkable achievements, and ex-Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany is in no doubt about how important Kane is to his Bayern team. "It helps when you have a top player who wants to run and fight for the team like a youth player," the head coach said on Tuesday. "I played against him as an opponent and he has become better with age."
Indeed, Kane seems to have reached an even higher level than he did at Tottenham. Bayern are still not convincing everyone as a collective, but must be considered genuine Champions League contenders due to Kane's presence alone, with the England captain thriving as more of an out-and-out No.9 under Kompany.
Kane's trophy curse will end in May, because barring a dramatic collapse, Bayern are destined to win back the Bundesliga title, and they will also take some beating in Europe. There are others ahead of Kane in the Ballon d'Or race at the moment, but he's a real dark horse, and will be worth backing if he keeps up his prolific scoring rate.
GettyLOSER: Xabi Alonso
Xabi Alonso has done a remarkable job at Bayer Leverkusen. He secured legendary status after leading the club to a historic domestic double last season, and showed great loyalty by penning a new contract instead of buying into links with his old club Real Madrid.
But it has been disappointing how easily his side have surrendered the title of Germany's best team back to Bayern. Leverkusen have been unable to match the Bavarians' consistency in the Bundesliga this time around, falling eight points off the pace with only nine games to go, and they have only the DFB-Pokal to play for this term after being taught a harsh lesson in the Champions League.
Leverkusen let the first leg of their last-16 tie get away from them after a red card to Nordi Mukiele, and never looked like staging a comeback in the second. "To get to the next level is not easy. Bayern is a different level in this competition," Alonso admitted after the defeat.
Those words will be tough to swallow for the Leverkusen faithful given the quality Alonso still has at his disposal. This season must be considered a serious failure, and Alonso's inability to keep the team progressing will adversely affect his chances of landing a job at one of Europe's big boys in the near future.