Champions League Standings After Matchday 7: Arsenal Perfect, Top-Eight Race Still Wide Open Before the Final Night

Mo. Basuony

ago 2 hours

Champions League Standings

Matchday 7 of the UEFA Champions League league phase (played January 20–21, 2026) tightened the squeeze at both ends of the table. With one round left, the stakes are simple: the top eight qualify directly for the round of 16, teams placed 9–24 head to the knockout phase play-offs, and 25–36 are eliminated once the league phase ends.

Right now, only the leader looks comfortable. Almost everywhere else, a single result on the final matchday can flip the standings.

UEFA Champions League standings: Top 8 (direct round-of-16 places)

Rank	Team	GP	W-D-L	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	7	7-0-0	+18	21
2	Bayern Munich	7	6-0-1	+13	18
3	Real Madrid	7	5-0-2	+11	15
4	Liverpool	7	5-0-2	+6	15
5	Tottenham Hotspur	7	4-2-1	+8	14
6	Paris Saint-Germain	7	4-1-2	+10	13
7	Newcastle United	7	4-1-2	+10	13
8	Chelsea	7	4-1-2	+6	13

Arsenal’s perfect record has created daylight at the top, but places 3–13 are clustered tightly enough that “top eight” remains a live contest for a big pack.

Champions League standings: Knockout phase play-off places (9–24)

These teams are in the play-off zone as it stands, with the final matchday deciding who stays in the top 24 — and who sneaks into the top eight.

Barcelona — 13 pts
Sporting CP — 13 pts
Manchester City — 13 pts
Atlético Madrid — 13 pts
Atalanta — 13 pts
Internazionale — 12 pts
Juventus — 12 pts
Borussia Dortmund — 11 pts
Galatasaray — 10 pts
Qarabağ — 10 pts
Marseille — 9 pts
Bayer Leverkusen — 9 pts
AS Monaco — 9 pts
PSV Eindhoven — 8 pts
Athletic Club — 8 pts
Olympiacos — 8 pts

The headline: Barcelona sit 9th on the same points total as the teams currently 6th–8th. That’s the table in a nutshell—fine margins everywhere.

Matchday 7 results that reshaped the table

Several signature nights moved the needle:

Arsenal stayed flawless with a statement win away to Inter, pushing their total to 21 points and keeping them clear of the pack. That result also left Inter outside the top eight chase for now, parked at 14th on 12.
Liverpool surged into 4th on 15 points after a convincing win away to Marseille, a swing that also stalled Marseille’s momentum and left them 19th on 9 with work still to do.
Barcelona’s comeback win at Slavia Prague lifted them to 13 points, but the table remains brutal: 13 points is good enough for 6th through 13th depending on goal difference and other tiebreakers.
Atlético Madrid’s draw at Galatasaray kept Atlético on 13 points (12th), while Galatasaray moved to 10 (17th), still inside the top-24 band but not safe yet.
Juventus beat Benfica to secure their place in the top 24, sitting 15th on 12 points as the play-off places solidify around them.
Bayern Munich’s win over Union Saint-Gilloise kept them second on 18 points, and it effectively confirmed they’ll finish the league phase with a high seed.

What to watch on Matchday 8 (Wednesday, January 28, 2026)

The final league-phase night is built for drama: all fixtures are scheduled to be played simultaneously.

Kick-off time: 3:00pm ET (US/Canada), 8:00pm UK (GMT), 10:00pm Cairo (EET)

Key battles to track:

The top-eight traffic jam: Spurs (14) and a five-team cluster on 13 points (PSG, Newcastle, Chelsea, Barcelona, Sporting, Man City, Atlético, Atalanta) means one win can be worth multiple places—especially with goal difference in play.
The “line” at 24th: Olympiacos currently hold 24th on 8 points, but the teams directly below them are close enough to threaten.
Seeding inside 9–24: Even if a team doesn’t crack the top eight, finishing higher inside the play-off bracket can matter a lot for the next round’s path.

Champions League standings: Who’s currently outside the top 24 (and who can still climb)

As things stand, these teams are below the cut line:

Napoli — 8 pts
FC København — 8 pts
Club Brugge — 7 pts
Bodø/Glimt — 6 pts
Benfica — 6 pts
Pafos — 6 pts
Union Saint-Gilloise — 6 pts
Ajax — 6 pts
Eintracht Frankfurt — 4 pts
Slavia Prague — 3 pts
Villarreal — 1 pt
Kairat Almaty — 1 pt

The big story here is the cluster on 6–8 points. Napoli, København, and several teams on 6 still have a route into the top 24 with a final-day win and the right help elsewhere. By contrast, the bottom four are running out of road fast, with very little margin left.

Matchday 8 won’t just decide the last direct round-of-16 places—it will redraw the entire middle of the table in one night.