(Re-uploaded in 2024 due to a website reset in 2022, resulting in old posts being deleted)
The group stage of the UEFA Champions League 2020/2021 was not without its excitement. Read on for a recap of its matches.
Group A:
Group A had two clear favorites, Bayern Munich and Atlético Madrid. Bayern lost no games in the group stage, drawing only one, which was with Atlético Madrid. Atleti finished second in the group, winning 2 matches, drawing 3 and losing 1.
Group B:
Group B, however, did not turn out as expected. In fact, the team expected to finish second, Inter Milan, finished last in the group. Although Real Madrid finished at the top of the group, they did not start very well. They lost their first match 3-2 against Shakhtar Donetsk, which was an extremely unexpected outcome. Another astonishing outcome was that of Real Madrid’s second match of the tournament, in which they drew 2-2 with Borussia Mönchengladbach. They then beat Inter Milan and won 2 of their remaining 3 games after that, losing once again to Shakhtar Donetsk. Inter Milan surprisingly won only 1 game, and thus finished last. Mönchengladbach finished second, and Shakhtar third, making it to the group sage of the Europa League.
Group C:
Manchester City and Porto were the only 2 teams that stood a chance of qualifying to the round of 16 from Group C. The Sky Blues finished with 16 points, winning five matches and drawing only one. Porto finished with 13 points, winning 4 matches, and drawing and losing one each. Olympiacos and Marseille finished 3rd and 4th respectively, each losing all their games except one, that being a draw for both sides.
Group D:
Liverpool finished at the top of the Group D table, winning all 3 of their first matches. However, they lost to Atalanta in their 4th game. Atalanta finished second, with 11 points. Liverpool won their 5th game against Ajax, who finished 3rd, and drew 1-1 in their last game of the group stage with Midtjylland.
Group E:
Like groups A and C, the two clear favorites went through to the next round. In this group, those 2 remarkable teams were Chelsea and Sevilla, who finished 1st and second respectively. Chelsea, finishing with 14 points, won all their games in the group stage, except their first and last, which they drew. Sevilla finished one point behind, drawing their first game against Chelsea 0-0, losing to them 4-0 in their 5th game of the group stage and winning the rest. Krasnodar finished 3rd with only 5 points, and Rennes finished last, with only 1 point, which they earned with a draw in their first match against Krasnodar.
Group F:
Borussia Dortmund finished at the top of Group F, with 13 points. They started off the tournament with a loss against Lazio, who finished unbeaten and in second place. However, their form improved after that game, as they won all the remaining games of the group stage except their fifth, which they drew 1-1 with Lazio. Although Lazio did not lose a single game in the group stage, they only won 2, drawing 4. Club Brugge finished third, with 8 points, and Zenit finished last, with only 1 point. That one point was gained by Zenit in their third game against Lazio.
Group G:
Juventus and FC Barcelona finished 1st and 2nd respectively, with 15 points each. Both teams won all their games expect one, which they both lost. Juventus lost their second game of the group stage against 0-2 against Barcelona, who lost their last game 0-3 against Juventus. Dynamo Kyiv finished 3rd, with 4 points. Ferencváros finished at the bottom of Group G, with only 1 point, which they earned by drawing 2-2 against Dynamo Kyiv in their second game.
Group H:
PSG, RB Leipzig and Manchester United finished the group stage 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. All three of them competed fiercely for the top 2 positions, and at the start of the tournament, Manchester United seemed like they were going to qualify. They won their first 2 games, against PSG and Leipzig, winning 1-2 and 5-0. However, they shockingly lost to İstanbul Başakşehir in their 3rd match and to PSG and Leipzig in their last two games. İstanbul Başakşehir never played in the champions league before the 2020/2021 season. İstanbul Başakşehir’s first champions league victory ever was the one against Manchester United, and they have yet to win another. The winner of the second RB Leipzig vs Manchester United game in the group stage was to qualify to the round of 16, and that was Leipzig, who won the nail-biting game 3-2.