Chelsea and Tottenham could face a nightmare scenario in next week's Champions League round of 16 draw after a late goal in Wednesday night's games changed the complexion of qualification.
The Blues and Spurs both topped their groups, Tottenham in dramatic fashion on Tuesday night with a late goal of their own against Marseille, to ensure they are seeded in Monday's draw for the round of 16. That means they will avoid teams like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the next round.
However, there are some big teams that finished second in their groups. And there was one European giant to drop into second place in the group after some late, late drama.
READ MORE: Who Tottenham can face in Champions League round of 16 draw and the two teams they cannot play
The two qualifiers in Group H were already decided before the final round of matches on Wednesday night, with Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica both booking their places in the round of 16 draw. But who finished top was still up for grabs.
PSG looked to be taking it thanks to an early Kylian Mbappe goal, but they were pegged back by Juventus, while Benfica were also drawing with Maccabi Haifa at half-time. Both teams then took the lead in the second half and with the head to head record even (two 1-1 draw between the two sides) it was going down to goal difference to separate the sides, with PSG having the clear edge.
However, Benfica went 4-1 up on Maccabi to make things interesting and scored a fifth in the 88th minute. PSG still had the advantage by one goal at that point, but a 92nd minute sixth goal for the Portuguese side put everything level.
PSG and Benfica then had an almost identical record - same number of wins, draws, defeats, head-to-head record level, goal difference level, same number of goals scored. According to UEFA's rules, teams finishing level on points are split in the following ways:
- Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
- Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
- Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
- Those three criteria are then applied to the other teams in the group;
- Superior goal difference in all group matches;
- Higher number of goals scored in all group matches
Neither PSG nor Benfica could be split by those criteria and it came down to the seventh layer of deciding to find a group winner - higher number of away goals scored in all group matches. Benfica scored nine, by virtue of that 6-1 win away in Israel, with PSG netting six.
That means PSG finish second in the group and will go into Monday's round of 16 draw with the possibility of facing any of the group winners, other than Benfica, in the last 16. That includes the likes of Chelsea and Tottenham, who will both be keen to avoid the French superstars.
Other teams Chelsea and Tottenham can face:
Inter Milan
Borussia Dortmund
Eintracht Frankfurt (not Spurs)
AC Milan (not Chelsea)
RB Leipzig
Inter Milan
Club Brugge
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