UCL 2025/26: Winners and losers of the league phase

A madcap night of UEFA Champions League football gave us some of the most memorable moments of this season’s league phase. From last-minute goals to mind-numbing red cards, many teams etched their names in history, there being an emotion for every fan as we witnessed a Matchday for the ages.

However, while there were a few sides who ended up as big winners after the conclusion of the league phase, a few of them were left to rue their losses and contemplate on what could have been.

Here, we present our pick of the major winners and losers after the conclusion of the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League.

Winners — Qarabag

Until this season, not a single team from Azerbaijan had been able to win a match in the Champions League, let alone qualify for the knockout stages. But this time Qarabag have gone where no other Azeri team have gone, thereby creating their own unique bit of history in the competition. 

The Göy-aglar beat Benfica to register their first-ever win in the competition and then went on to beat Copenhagen and Frankfurt, while also earning a very creditable draw against Chelsea to seal their place in the play-off round.

Under the leadership of Gurban Gurbanov, who is known as “the Azeri Sir Alex Ferguson”, they have managed to reach a historic summit. Even though they ended up on the wrong side of a 6–0 defeat against Liverpool last night, the taste of knockout football will be a sweet experience for them.

Losers — Napoli

The reigning Serie A champions would have fancied their chances given the relatively high number of favourable fixtures that they had against the likes of PSV, Frankfurt, Benfica, and Copenhagen. But their performances against these very sides not only left a lot to be desired, but also ended up being the cause of their elimination from the tournament.

Draws against Frankfurt and Copenhagen only went on to dampen their chances. Their huge 6–2 loss to PSV and a 2–0 defeat against Benfica meant that they had to get a win in the final match against Chelsea to keep their hopes alive. Alas, they were unable to do so and slumped to a defeat after going 2–1 up, thereby once again highlighting Antonio Conte’s poor record in the European top division.

Winners — Benfica and José Mourinho

The entirety of the Estádio da Luz went through a cacophony of emotions throughout their must-win game against Real Madrid. After going a goal down, Benfica stormed back in stirring fashion to lead 3–1 against the 15-time European champions. However, a Kylian Mbappé goal to make it 3–2 meant that there were a lot of anxious and downright terrified faces in the stands.

When Benfica head coach José Mourinho made two defensive changes in stoppage time, he was under the assumption that his team were through, until someone told him seconds later that they needed another goal, prompting pandemonium because the changes had already been made and he had no more subs to make.

However, an absolutely chaotic phase of two minutes followed, which saw two Real Madrid players get sent off. So when Benfica had an attacking free kick in what was virtually the last kick of the game, they had a two-man advantage.

However, Mourinho was not happy with that. Instead, he vociferously signalled his goalkeeper, Anatoliy Trubin, to also go up for the free kick. And it was fitting that Trubin was the one to score the goal that sparked absolutely visceral scenes, not only taking Benfica through, but also vindicating Mourinho’s decision to gamble in that instant.

“Football heritage” indeed!

Losers: Pafos

Now, this will sound very, very harsh, given that they were first-time entrants in this competition, but the reason for putting Pafos here is solely due to the circumstances they found themselves in at the end of it all.

For a team playing in the Champions League for the very first time, the Cypriot champions did exceedingly well. With a total of nine points and registering two victories, one of which was against a big European name in Villarreal, they missed the knockouts agonisingly by virtue of just goal difference.

Pafos must be ruing the goalless draw against fellow debutants Kairat, when a win could have made them only the second Cypriot side ever to qualify for the Champions League knockouts since APOEL way back in 2012. However, they can still hold their heads up high after a campaign where they exceeded expectations.

Winners: All English teams in the Champions League

It is a good time to be affiliated with the Premier League, especially after last night’s fixtures. The race for that extra Champions League spot has ensured that all teams fight tooth and nail that bit more for the coefficient points on offer. And at the end of it all, it was a pretty relaxed place for the English sides to be in.

Five of the six English sides qualified directly for the Round of 16. Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Spurs all registered victories to secure their passage, while Newcastle United managed a spot in the play-offs after a very creditable draw against the defending champions PSG, which also consigned the Parisians to the play-offs for a second year running.

Manchester United and the other sides in the Premier League with Champions League aspirations will be casting a keen eye on how things pan out in the knockouts, but for now, they can breathe a sigh of relief at a job well done.