Ranking the final eight teams in the Champions League

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The Football Faithful

·8 April 2025

Ranking the final eight teams in the Champions League

We are down to the last eight of the Champions League in 2024/25, so we have decided to power rank the remaining teams ahead of the quarter-finals.

Ranking the Champions League quarter-finalists in 2024/25

8. Borussia Dortmund

Easily the worst side left in the competition, it would take a miracle for Dortmund to repeat last year’s sensational run to the final where they lost to Real Madrid. The German outfit face a real fight to get back into Europe next season as they sit eighth in the Bundesliga table.

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Die Schwarzgelben have also been handed the toughest draw of any side with Barcelona their opponents in the quarter-finals.

7. Aston Villa

Earlier in the season Aston Villa struggled to get to grips with the added demands that come with Champions League football. A 1-0 win over Bayern Munich showed they can compete at this level, but their Premier League form certainly suffered.

The Villans have been on a roll of late, however. They’ve won seven matches in a row in all competitions, reaching the FA Cup semi-finals and putting themselves back in contention for a second successive top four finish in the process.

Getting this far in the tournament is a huge accomplishment in itself. Getting one step farther looks to be too big of an ask, but Unai Emery is a master of knockout football.

6. Bayern Munich

There is something about Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich that I don’t quite buy. They’re sitting comfortably on top of the Bundesliga, about to reclaim their crown, and boast the best expected goals difference in Europe’s top five leagues.

And yet I don’t think they’re all that great. Kompany seemingly wants his side to control matches by dominating possession and let his superstar attackers figure out a way to break down the opposition. That works absolutely fine in the majority of their games in Germany, but I highly doubt it will be a winning formula in Europe. Inter will be the litmus test.

Read – Five who played for both Bayern Munich and Inter Milan

5. Arsenal

If I were assessing these teams before the knockouts began, Arsenal would have ranked higher. At that point they were dealing with a few injuries to their frontline, but their defence was playing so well that you could envisage them sneaking through every round by low event, cup football until the final.

Fast forward to the present day and not only are they missing Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, but Gabriel Magalhães, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Riccardo Calafiori as well. Losing so many important defenders makes it difficult to see them fending off the wealth of attacking talent left in the Champions League.

Read – Five who played for both Arsenal and Real Madrid

4. Real Madrid

Real Madrid have not been great in LaLiga lately, scraping a win over relegation-threatened Leganes and losing to 14th-placed Valencia. They’ve got issues at the back due to a number of injuries and their attack isn’t firing at 100 percent. That said, they’re going to win the whole thing again, aren’t they?

3. Inter Milan

Inter may not have the talent of Barcelona or Real or even Bayern, but they do possess a tactical versatility that could go a long way. Under Simone Inzaghi they are perfectly comfortable in a low block, but they also have plenty of talented passers to beat a press, and they can unlock set defences with their wing-backs and underlapping centre-backs combining in attack.

The Nerazzurri are in pole position in Serie A to potentially win a second consecutive Scudetto. And although they dropped two points to strugglers Parma at the weekend, they have not lost a game in any competition since early February. That form is just about enough to squeak them into third on this list.

Read – Remembering Mourinho’s Inter side that beat Bayern in the Champions League final

2. Paris St-Germain

PSG entered the knockouts as the Champions League sleeper team. Now they are one of the most dangerous sides remaining.

Everyone should want to avoid the Parisian outfit. Luis Enrique has done the impossible in turning this Qatari vanity project into a cohesive unit. Actually, that’s downplaying how impressive they have been this season.

After coming through a tricky league phase in which they had arguably the toughest schedule of any side, they dispatched of Brest and previous favourites Liverpool in style, although it took a penalty shootout to finally shake off the latter. A second final in their history is not out of the question.

1. Barcelona

Despite all of the chaos and financial chicanery going on in the background, Hansi Flick has moulded this Barcelona team into his image and turned them into a counter-pressing machine that overwhelms the opposition.

There are questions surrounding the defence, for sure. But with Pedri feeding the ball to two world class wingers in Lamine Yamal and Raphinha, and Robert Lewandowski still scoring goals for fun, that may not matter.

Read – The 10 best attacking midfielders in the world right now