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.
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.
Yes, English clubs got through the group stage of the tournament without losing a club. Compared to Germany, which lost 2 clubs out of 5, Italy, which lost 1 club out of 5 and Spain, which lost 1 club out of 4, this result is impressive.
Few believe that Celtic will be able to cause problems for City, but the top teams of Spain and Germany are already playing each other in the 1/16.