{"id":422993,"date":"2026-01-22T14:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T14:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/422993\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T14:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T14:00:07","slug":"what-do-barcelona-need-to-finish-in-top-8-of-the-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/422993\/","title":{"rendered":"What do Barcelona need to finish in top 8 of the Champions League?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Barcelona gave their hopes of automatic qualification to the Champions League knockout phase a boost on Wednesday night by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.barcablaugranes.com\/barcelona-uefa-champions-league\/110719\/slavia-prague-barcelona-champions-league-final-score-match-report-recap-reactions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">beating Slavia Prague 4-2<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The win sees Hansi Flick\u2019s side rise into ninth place in the standings, with 13 points, ahead of the final round of group phase fixtures next week. Barca finish off their campaign with a home match against FC Copenhagen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The top eight teams will all progress straight to the next round, while teams finishing between between 9th and 24th will go into the play-offs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">One look at the Champions League table shows you have tight things are. There are eight teams on 13 points, from PSG in sixth spot down to Atalanta in 13th.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">So what do Barcelona need to secure a place in the top eight? Well, Flick\u2019s side must beat Copenhagen and then wait and see what happens next.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The good news for Barcelona is that two teams above them in the table &#8211; Newcastle and PSG &#8211; will face off in the final round of fixtures and can therefore take points off each other.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Goal difference is also likely to prove crucial when it comes to a top eight spot. Barcelona are currently on +5 but know that PSG, Newcastle and Chelsea all have better records.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Flick is hopeful his team can get the job done next weekend and highlighted the importance of avoiding a play-off in a congested season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cWe have the opportunity to finish in the top eight, and that\u2019s our goal,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cWe didn\u2019t start this Champions League well, but ultimately we have a chance to be among the eight, and that\u2019s what we want, because it would mean having two fewer games and would help us recover.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cBut if we have to play two games, we\u2019ll play them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Which teams do you think will make the top eight? Share your thoughts in the comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona gave their hopes of automatic qualification to the Champions League knockout phase a boost on Wednesday night&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[4218,403,99],"class_list":["post-422993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-barcelona-uefa-champions-league","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}