By: Chinedum Ohanusi
Arsenal edged Kirat Almaty of Kazakhstan 3-2 at the Emirates Stadium, with returning forward Kai Hervatz scoring one, and setting up two, as the Gunners finished the preliminary phase of the 2025/2026 UEFA Champions League, as the only side with an incredible 100% win record.
Mikel Arteta’s side was followed closely by Bayern Munich which won 2-1 at PSV Eindhoven to garner 21 points, 3 adrift of the Gunners; and 3 points better than Liverpool, who were the biggest winners on the night, as the Reds spanked Quarabag 6-0 at Anfied to move to 3rd, 3 points behind the Baverians.
Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur netted twice in the 2nd half to beat Eintrecht Frankfurt in Germany; while FC Barcelona, Chelsea, Sporting Lisbon of Portugal, and Manchester City completed the top 8, on 16 points each, with Barcelona recording a come from behind 4-1 win over visiting FC Copenhagen.
In the same vain, Chelsea came from 1-2 down to edge SSC Napoli of Italy 3-2 in Naples; but Manchester City defeated Galatasaray of Turkey, which had Victor Osimhen on the pitch for the entire duration of the match, 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium; and Sporting CP scored deep into stoppage time, to beat Atlethic Bilbao 3-2 in Spain.
But the most sensational result of the night, came from Portugal, where Jose Mourinho’s Benfica delivered a soccer punch, in their 4-2 defeat of record 10-time champions, Real Madrid, who ended the match with two red cards; just as Norwegian minnows Bodoe/Glimt edged Atletico Madrid 2-1 in the Spanish capital, as both Bodoe/Glimt and Benfica made the cut, by squeezing into the the top 24.
While the top eight are automatically through to the Round of 16, they will be paired with winners of two legged playoffs, where teams ranked 9th to 16, will have to first, slug it out with those ranked 17th to 24th.
Remarkably, 5 clubs from England, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City, are in the top eight, while the other premier league side, Newcastle United, is ranked 12th, after a pulsating 1-1 draw with the defending champions, PSG in Paris.
