After 96 games and 297 goals, the 2021-22 Champions League group stage has come to a close.
Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Ajax all cruised into the last 16 with perfect records, but defending champions Chelsea could only finish in a runner-up spot and Barcelona dropped into the Europa League for the first time.
Ahead of the UCL last 16 draw, available from 6 a.m. ET on Paramount+, we take a look at 10 moments that defined the group stage.
1. Young Boys stun Manchester United (GW 1)
Manchester United might be seeded for the UCL last 16 draw after winning Group F, but they got off to a nightmare start in the group stage as Young Boys won 2-1 in Switzerland.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored in his Champions League return for United, but Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s foolish red card — for a dangerous challenge on Christopher Martins — ultimately cost the visitors.
Cameroon winger Moumi Ngamaleu equalized for Young Boys before a mistake by Jesse Lingard, five minutes into added time, allowed American Jordan Pefok to score a famous winner.
United mustered just two shots on goal in the game — their fewest in UCL history — while the loss left Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with seven defeats in 11 Champions League matches.
2. ‘Unstoppable’ Messi gets first PSG goal (GW 2)
Pep Guardiola called Lionel Messi “unstoppable” as the Argentine scored his first Paris Saint-Germain goal in a 2-0 win over Manchester City.
It was a typically stunning Messi finish as he surged forward from the right and played a neat one-two with Kylian Mbappe on the edge of the box before rifling a first-time strike into the roof of the net.
Messi not only scored, but he also caught the eye when he got down on the ground behind a PSG wall to prevent a Manchester City free kick from creeping under it.
The 34-year-old went on to finish the group stage with five goals from just 15 attempts taking his overall Champions League tally to 125.
3. Sheriff’s ‘miracle’ win at Real (GW 2)
Sheriff Tiraspol upstaged 13-time European champions Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in one of the Champions League’s all-time shocks.
Sheriff coach Yuriy Vernydub called their 2-1 win “a miracle” after Sebastien Thill snatched an improbable victory for the UCL debutants with an 89th-minute half-volley.
“It’s the best and most important goal of my career,” said Thill, who has a tattoo on his left leg of himself as a kid dreaming of scoring a goal in the Champions League.
Real’s loss to the Moldovan champions brought back memories of Barcelona’s 2-1 surprise home defeat to Ruben Kazan in 2009 and is arguably Los Blancos’ worst UCL performance since a 3-1 defeat to Monaco in the 2004 quarterfinals.
But it still proved a blip as Carlo Ancelotti’s side finished on top of Group D, winning their other five games. Vinicius Jr. impressed, scoring a stunner in Real’s 5-0 rout over Shakhtar on matchday three as well as contributing three assists across the competition so far.
And on matchday six, Toni Kroos’ goal in the 3-0 win away at Sheriff ensured Real became the first side to score 1,000 European Cup and Champions League goals (excluding qualifiers).
4. Clutch Ronaldo (GW 3)
Cristiano Ronaldo almost singlehandedly dragged Manchester United into the last 16. Off the back of his injury-time winner against Villarreal on matchday two in his record 178th UCL appearance, his United side hosted Atalanta at Old Trafford.
The Italian visitors raced into a 2-0 lead at halftime, prompting a chorus of boos from the home support. But United rallied after the break as Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire leveled the score before Ronaldo’s late header completed a memorable victory.
Ronaldo also scored a brace in the corresponding fixture as United drew 2-2 in Bergamo in gameweek four. That dramatic point came off the back of a 3-0 EPL win at Tottenham, improving the mood at Old Trafford following the embarrassing 5-0 loss to Liverpool.
But United went on to lose to Manchester City (2-0) and Watford (4-1), leading to Solskjaer’s dismissal on Nov. 21. Michael Carrick took temporary charge of the 2-0 win at Villarreal — in which Ronaldo also scored to send United into the last 16 — before Ralf Rangnick was eventually appointed as manager until the end of the season.
5. Juve and Bayern the first teams through (GW 4)
Juventus and Bayern Munich became the first two teams through to the last 16.
Weston McKennie’s Juve booked their spot after a brace from Paulo Dybala ensured a 4-2 win over Zenit St Petersburg.
Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski scored a hat trick in his 100th Champions League appearance as they thrashed Benfica 5-2 to guarantee their progression from Group E.
Bayern, along with Liverpool and Ajax, went on to win all six games. It’s the second time the German champions have come through the group stage with a perfect record, having achieved the feat in 2019-20 when they went on to lift the UCL trophy.
Twenty-four hours later, Gabriel Jesus got the winner as Manchester City beat PSG 2-1, with both sides also going through to the knockout stage. And Real Madrid and Sporting also qualified in gameweek four as the last 16 draw started to take shape.
6. Record number of USMNT players (GW 5)
Christian Pulisic faced off against Weston McKennie on a night that saw a record seven USMNT players feature in the Champions League.
Pulisic’s Chelsea won 4-0 thus inflicting Juventus’ biggest ever Champions League defeat. The win appeared to put Chelsea on track to top Group H, but a late Magomed Ozdoev equalizer on matchday six meant Juve finished on top.
Elsewhere, Jordan Pefok scored Young Boys’ opener in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Atalanta. It was his second Champions League goal this season after scoring the winner against Manchester United and it boosted his chances of another international call-up.
Tim Weah (Lille), Brenden Aaaronson (Salzburg), John Brooks (Wolfsburg) and Sergino Dest (Barcelona) also saw game time in the Tuesday gameweek five fixtures.
Five USMNT players now head into the knockout stage. Pulisic, McKennie and Weah are joined by Salzburg’s Aaronson — who helped the Austrian side into the last 16 for the first time — and Manchester City keeper Zach Steffen, who made his UCL debut on matchday six in the 2-1 loss to Leipzig.
7. Golazos from Thiago and Lewandowski (GW 5)
There are plenty of strong contenders for “Goal of the Group Stage,” with an honorable mention going to Marco Asensio’s long-range effort against Inter, which satisfyingly cracked off both posts.
But two gameweek five golazos really stand out. Thiago’s half-volley against Porto in Liverpool’s 2-0 win went viral because of his flawless technique. Once hit, from well outside the area, the ball drifted through a crowd without touching the ground before rippling the net.
Robert Lewandowski’s bicycle kick in the snow at Dynamo in Bayern’s 2-1 victory was equally outstanding. The German’s goal came less than a week before the Ballon d’Or, but it wasn’t enough to deny Messi a record seventh trophy.
Lewandowski — who has 66 goals so far in 2021 — finished the group stage with nine goals, only failing to score in the final gameweek.
8. Haller scores in every game (GW 6)
Arguably the biggest story of the group stage was the form of Ajax’s Sebastien Haller.
The 27-year-old Ivorian scored in every gameweek and is the UCL top scorer with an impressive 10 goals — just one short of Ronaldo’s 2015-16 record for this stage of the competition.
Haller, who is playing in the Champions League for the first time, scored four goals in the opening match as Ajax beat Benfica 5-2. He became the first player to do this on his UCL debut since Marco van Basten in 1992.
Haller’s fifth UCL goal of the season came against Besiktas in a 2-0 win. And he became just the second player, behind Erling Haaland, to score six goals in his first three UCL games as Ajax crushed Dortmund 4-0.
Haller was on the scoresheet again as Ajax beat Dortmund 3-1 in the reverse fixture to qualify for the last 16. And his brace away at Besiktas made it 18 goals in 18 games in all competitions so far this season.
Ajax rounded off their group stage with a 4-2 victory over fellow qualifiers Sporting. Haller scored the opener to become the fastest player to 10 UCL goals and join Ronaldo (from his 2017-18 season at Real Madrid) as one of just two players to score in every group-stage game.
9. Barcelona crash out (GW 6)
Five-time European champions Barcelona lost 3-0 to Bayern Munich to miss out on the knockout stage of the Champions League. Barca haven’t been absent from the last 16 since 2003-04 when they failed to qualify for the competition.
The Spanish giants have finished third before in the UCL, though, back in 2000-01 when Milan and Leeds United went through at their expense.
In the final gameweek, Barca needed to match Benfica’s result to advance, but the Portuguese side won 2-0 at home to Dynamo Kyiv.
It means Xavi, who won the Champions League four times times as a player, took just one point from his two UCL games as manager. That came on matchday five courtesy of a drab 0-0 draw with Benfica at the Camp Nou.
The challenge for Xavi now is to qualify for the Champions League again next season — no easy task with Barca currently in seventh place in La Liga, 16 points adrift leaders Real Madrid.
Barcelona weren’t the only big-name casualty. Dortmund finished third in Group C and must also settle for a Europa League knockout play-off.
And Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Milan finished at the bottom of Group B and head out of Europe all together. The 40-year-old Ibra started their final game (potentially his last in the UCL), but failed to score in a 2-1 loss to Liverpool. Had he done so he’d have replaced Roma’s Francesco Totti as the Champions League’s oldest scorer.
10. Snow in Bergamo (GW 6)
We saw Champions League action on a Thursday after Atalanta’s winner-take-all tie with Villarreal was postponed by a day in Group F.
Heavy snow in Bergamo originally delayed the game by 20 minutes on Wednesday night, but it was soon clear the match couldn’t be played, especially with so much at stake.
After the game was called off, Villarreal came out to greet their traveling fans in a touching moment. And they gave them plenty to cheer about when the match finally kicked off as the visitors won a thriller 3-2.
A brace from Arnaut Danjuma, sandwiched in between a powerful finish from Etienne Capoue, handed Villarreal a commanding lead before a spirited fightback from the hosts.
It means Unai Emery avoids the Europa League — a competition he has won four times, including last season with Villarreal.
Villarreal, and the 15 other qualifiers, will find out their last 16 opponents on Monday, Dec. 13. The draw ceremony begins at 6 a.m. ET and is available on Paramount+.
Group winners will face group runners up, and teams in the same group or from the same country can’t draw each other.
Defending champions Chelsea can only face four possible opponents: Ajax, Bayern, Real Madrid or Lille.
Aaronson’s Sazlburg have the highest number of possible matchups after finishing second in Group G. They can’t play Lille, but games against all other seeded sides are possible.
It promises to be an exciting draw, with an intriguing mix of former champions, big hitters, dark horses and first-time qualifiers in it. The two-legged ties will be played in February.
