Not a bad day for English clubs in the Champions League. The last round of the league phase is completed.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa finished in the top 8, meaning they're going directly to the next stage without having to participate in the play-offs. This is a success particularly for Villa, who beat Celtic 4-2 today and grabbed the last, 8th place in the direct promotion zone.
Aston villa caught my attention to night. How the managed to scale through the first stage and finished in the top 8. They were lucky Atalanta couldn't defeat Barcelona else they would have been in Atlanta' s current position. Having three teams from the premier league make it to the next round without playing the play-offs gives the premier league a big face.
Man City was outside the playoffs before today, but they didn't disappoint their fans and beat Club Brugge 3-1 at home. The first half wasn't the most impressive on their part, but I'd rather have them playing ugly and winning than playing nicely and losing points.
Manchester City needed the win at all cost. When they were losing 0-1 I began to wonder if they were going to missing out of the play-offs; but they were able to equalise and added two more goals to their tally. City gave their fans the pride the wanted from today's match.
It is good to know that all the English premier league teams that participated on the first round all won their last game and stand a chance to press on for the title.