A SUPERCOMPUTER has predicted the rest of this year’s Champions League and it reckons we will have an all English final.
In the tournament’s new format, there are eight games in the league phase before the knockout rounds.
The top eight go through to the last-16 as seeds, while teams placed 9th to 24th meet in a play-off to become their opponents.
We are halfway through the Champions League’s expanded group stage and plenty of shock results mean that CSDB.gg’s supercomputer is predicting several surprise finishes.
The number cruncher thinks Manchester City, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will all be involved in the play-off round alongside Aston Villa and Celtic.
Sporting’s demolition of City and Inter Milan’s hard-fought victory over the Gunners this week sees both of them come in the top eight.
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Liverpool will end the league phase top and undefeated thanks to seven wins and a draw.
Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain are the biggest casualty of the new league phase and are predicted to finish 27th.
In the play-off round, teams that come between 9th and 16th are seeded and have the second leg at home.
The rules see Arsenal face Villa and Mikel Arteta’s side are expected to come through 4-2 on aggregate.
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In the last-16, the AI claims Liverpool will beat Barcelona, the Gunners will knock out Bayern Munich and City will batter Monaco.
Real Madrid have played Pep Guardiola’s men in each of the last three Champions League campaigns and the supercomputer says they are going to meet again in this season’s quarter-finals.
The Spaniards got the better of them last time and the same will happen again – with a shock 5-1 aggregate victory predicted.
Meanwhile, Arsenal will beat Atalanta and Liverpool will end Sporting’s dream run.
The semi-finals see Liverpool knock out champions Real Madrid in a thriller and Arsenal to get revenge on Inter Milan.
This means the simulation is going for the first all-English final since Chelsea beat Man City in 2021.
And in the final, the supercomputer says Liverpool will llift the trophy after a 1-0 nervy win over Arsenal.
It would be the seventh time the club has tasted Champions League glory and complete a stunning first season for manager Arne Slot.
Supercomputer predicts Champions League knockout stages
Scores on aggregate:
Play-off
- Atletico 3-2 Girona
- Barcelona 6-1 Brest
- Juventus 2-1 Feyenoord
- AC Milan 2-2 Benfica (Benfica win on pens)
- Man City 4-1 Stuttgart
- Lille 4-3 Celtic
- PSV 1-6 Real Madrid
- Arsenal 4-2 Aston Villa
Last-16
- Liverpool 2-1 Barcelona
- Dortmund 3-4 Real Madrid
- Inter 3-2 Benfica
- Atalanta 2-0 Atletico
- Sporting 3-1 Lille
- Bayern 3-5 Arsenal
- Monaco 1-6 Man City
Quarter-final
- Real Madrid 5-1 Man City
- Liverpool 4-3 Sporting
- Inter 4-3 Juventus
- Atalanta 0-4 Arsenal
Semi-final
- Real Madrid 2-4 Liverpool
- Inter 3-4 Arsenal
Final
- Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk