Football Trips to the Champions League: Games to look forward to in 2025

What a breathtaking finale! Borussia Dortmund against FC Barcelona on December 11, 2024, on Matchday 6 of the Champions League 2:3 (0:0), these are the kind of games that make a football trip to the Champions League with the final in Munich on May 21, 2025, so desirable. However, the group phase is not over yet, in January 2025, the new format will reach its first decision. Event-breaks.com is, of course, on the ball and will let you know which matches on Matchdays 7 and 8 could be particularly worth watching.

"It will be interesting to see how Robert Lewandowski will be received during his visit to Dortmund," it said in early December 2024 in the "Football-Timer", our pocket calendar for the Champions League about the former Dortmund player from FC Barcelona, "between 2010 and 2014, the Pole scored 103 goals in 187 competitive matches for BVB."

He didn't score for the "Blaugrana", but Lewandowski's teammate Ferran Torres scored the two goals that brought "Barca" closer to direct qualification for the knockout stage with their 3-2 victory over BVB.

The Catalans had previously won 4-1 against FC Bayern Munich and defeated newcomer Stade Brest 3-0. From spring onwards, FC Barcelona will play in the renovated Spotify Camp Nou.

Although Borussia Dortmund dropped out of the top 8 due to this unfortunate defeat, with the two remaining matches against the almost eliminated FC Bologna and Shakhtar Donetsk, they should still manage to reach the Round of 16. Football trips to the Champions League at BVB have a unique magic that also impresses the opponents. "The crowd pushed Dortmund," said former Leipzig player Dani Olmo (now at FC Barcelona) to uefa.com.

Already secure in the Round of 16 is FC Liverpool, the only club that is at the top of both the European competition and their domestic league. "The Reds" won all six of their league matches in 2024.

Football trips Champions League: Experience Liverpool vs Lille live

What makes football trips to the Champions League at Anfield, we reported on LFC's 4-0 victory against the German champions from Leverkusen. One more time in the group phase, the floodlights will come on at Anfield Road – and it will be against OSC Lille (January 21, 2025). Surely worth a football trip to FC Liverpool.

With Bayer Leverkusen, who were able to win 1-0 at home against both Inter and AC Milan and delighted fans with a last-minute goal against "Nerazzurri", the surprise team from Aston Villa, Inter Milan, and FC Arsenal, all of whom have already collected 13 points, should also make it to the Round of 16.

Leverkusen will play on Matchday 7 (January 21, 2025) at Atletico Madrid, and they could secure everything with a home game against Sparta Prague on January 29, 2025 (all games at the same time).

Aston Villa will travel on January 21, 2025, certainly "in a suit to Monaco", to AS Monaco and former Bundesliga coach Adi Hütter. On Trinity Road, there will be a British duel: Aston Villa vs Celtic Glasgow.

Showdown in Paris: PSG vs Manchester City

The FC Arsenal will have home advantage on Matchday 7, facing Dinamo Zagreb. The Croatian champions would currently qualify for the Round of 16 – Paris Saint-Germain would be out.

PSG will host Manchester City on January 22, 2025, at the Parc des Princes in a real decider. The "Sky Blues" have been disappointing this season and are currently in an underwhelming 22nd place in the Champions League table.

Not out yet, but still not in the last eight, is Bayern Munich, who are of course hoping for the "Finale dahoam 2.0" – and will still play against Feyenoord Rotterdam and the eliminated team Slovan Bratislava in the new year. For Bayern, who are extremely confident after three consecutive CL wins, the Round of 16 is absolutely doable in this configuration. However, as of now, the organizers state that no away fans are allowed at "De Kuip" stadium.

What happens with the clubs that don't make it to the top 24?

For clubs that are between 25th and 36th place after Matchday 8 on January 29, 2025, they are completely out of the European competition. Since 2024, there is no longer a possibility to continue in the Europa League.