2018–19 UEFA Champions League
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The 2018–19 UEFA Champions League was the 64th season of Europe's premier club
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
tournament organised by
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
, and the 27th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
. For the first time, the
video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a Assistant referee (association football), match official in association football who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those revi ...
(VAR) system was used in the competition from the round of 16 onward. The
final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
was played at the Metropolitano Stadium in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
,
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, between Tottenham Hotspur and
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, in the second all-English final after
Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
beat Chelsea in
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
. Liverpool won the match 2–0 to claim their sixth European Cup – becoming the third ever team to do so, behind
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
in
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
, and
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
in
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
. The win gave Liverpool automatic qualification for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage and the right to play in the 2019 UEFA Super Cup and the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup, the latter two of which they won. As Chelsea and
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
also reached the 2019 UEFA Europa League final, this was the first season to have multiple finals of major European club competitions featuring teams from a single nation. Defending champions Real Madrid, who had won four of the last five titles, including each of the last three, were eliminated by
Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...
in the
round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
. Although Ajax was eliminated in the semi-finals, they had played more matches than any other team in the tournament due to entering in the second qualifying round.


Format changes

On 9 December 2016, UEFA confirmed the reforming plan for the UEFA Champions League for the 2018–2021 cycle, which was announced on 26 August 2016. As per the new regulations, the previous season's UEFA Europa League winners will qualify automatically for the UEFA Champions League group stage (previously they would qualify for the play-off round, but would be promoted to the group stage only if the Champions League title holder berth was vacated, although this promotion to the group stage had been made in all three seasons since it was established from 2015–2016). Meanwhile, the top four teams from the leagues of the four top-ranked national associations in the UEFA country coefficients list will qualify automatically for the group stage as well. Only six teams will qualify for the group stage via the qualification rounds, down from ten in the previous season. This was also the first year to feature a preliminary round, in which the representatives of the four bottom-ranked national associations in the UEFA country coefficients contested single-legged semi-finals and a final to determine the final team to enter the first qualifying round.


Association team allocation

79 teams from 54 of the 55
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
member associations participated in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League (the exception being
Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...
, which did not organise a domestic league). The association ranking based on the UEFA country coefficients was used to determine the number of participating teams for each association: *Associations 1–4 each had four teams qualify. *Associations 5–6 each had three teams qualify. *Associations 7–15 each had two teams qualify. *Associations 16–55 (except Liechtenstein) each had one team qualify. *The winners of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League and 2017–18 UEFA Europa League were each given an additional entry if they did not qualify for the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League through their domestic league. **The winners of the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League,
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
, qualified through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Champions League title holders was not necessary. **The winners of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League,
Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...
, qualified through their domestic league, meaning the additional entry for the Europa League title holders was not necessary.


Association ranking

For the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League, the associations were allocated places according to their 2017 UEFA country coefficients, which took into account their performance in European competitions from 2012–13 to 2016–17. Apart from the allocation based on the country coefficients, associations could have additional teams participating in the Champions League, as noted below: * – Additional berth for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League winners * – Additional berth for the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League winners


Distribution

In the default access list, the Champions League title holders qualified for the group stage. However, since
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
already qualified for the group stage via their domestic league (as third place of the 2017–18 La Liga), the following changes to the access list were made: *The champions of association 11 (Czech Republic) entered the group stage instead of the play-off round. *The champions of association 13 (Netherlands) entered the play-off round instead of the third qualifying round. *The champions of association 15 (Austria) entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round. *The champions of associations 18 (Denmark) and 19 (Belarus) entered the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round. In addition, the Europa League title holders qualified for the group stage. However, since
Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...
, the Europa League champions, already qualified for the group stage via their domestic league (as second place of the 2017–18 La Liga), the following changes to the access list were made: *The third-placed team of association 5 (France) entered the group stage instead of the third qualifying round. *The runners-up of association 10 (Turkey) and 11 (Czech Republic) entered the third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round.


Teams

League positions of the previous season shown in parentheses (TH: Champions League title holders; EL: Europa League title holders).
;Notes


Round and draw dates

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in
Nyon Nyon (; historically German language, German: or and Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometer ...
, Switzerland, unless stated otherwise). From this season, there were staggered kick-off times in the group stage at 18:55 CET and 21:00 CET. Kick-off times starting from the knock-out phase were 21:00 CET.


Qualifying rounds

In the qualifying and play-off rounds, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into two-legged home-and-away ties.


Preliminary round

In the preliminary round, teams were divided into seeded and unseeded teams based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients, and then drawn into one-legged semi-final and final ties. The draw for the preliminary round was held on 12 June 2018. The semi-final round was played on 26 June, and the final round was played on 29 June 2018, both at the Victoria Stadium in Gibraltar. The losers of both semi-final and final rounds entered the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round. Drita's win in the semi-final round was the first time that a team representing Kosovo had won a game in any UEFA competition.


First qualifying round

The draw for the first qualifying round was held on 19 June 2018. The first legs were played on 10 and 11 July, and the second legs were played on 17 and 18 July 2018. The losers entered the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round, except one team were drawn to receive a bye to the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.


Second qualifying round

The second qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for league non-champions). The draw for the second qualifying round was held on 19 June 2018. The first legs were played on 24 and 25 July, and the second legs were played on 31 July and 1 August 2018. The losers from both Champions Path and League Path entered the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.


Third qualifying round

The third qualifying round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for league non-champions). The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 23 July 2018. The first legs were played on 7 and 8 August, and the second legs were played on 14 August 2018. The losers from Champions Path entered the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League play-off round, while the losers from League Path entered the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage.


Play-off round

The play-off round was split into two separate sections: Champions Path (for league champions) and League Path (for league non-champions). The draw for the play-off round was held on 6 August 2018. The first legs were played on 21 and 22 August, and the second legs were played on 28 and 29 August. The losers from both Champions Path and League Path entered the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage.


Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 30 August 2018 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. The 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four, with the restriction that teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. For the draw, the teams were seeded into four pots based on the following principles (introduced starting this season): *Pot 1 contained the Champions League and Europa League title holders, and the champions of the top six associations based on their 2017 UEFA country coefficients. If either or both title holders were one of the champions of the top six associations, the champions of the next highest ranked association(s) are also seeded into Pot 1. *Pot 2, 3 and 4 contained the remaining teams, seeded based on their 2018 UEFA club coefficients. In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the
round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
, while the third-placed teams entered the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League round of 32. The matchdays were 18–19 September, 2–3 October, 23–24 October, 6–7 November, 27–28 November, and 11–12 December 2018. The youth teams of the clubs that qualified for the group stage also participated in the 2018–19 UEFA Youth League on the same matchdays, where they competed in the UEFA Champions League Path (the youth domestic champions of the top 32 associations competed in a separate Domestic Champions Path until the play-offs). A total of fifteen national associations were represented in the group stage. TSG Hoffenheim,
Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...
( 1991 European champions) and Young Boys made their debut appearances in the group stage (although Red Star Belgrade had appeared in the European Cup group stage).


Group A


Group B


Group C


Group D


Group E


Group F


Group G


Group H


Knockout phase

In the knockout phase, teams played against each other over two legs on a home-and-away basis, except for the one-match final.


Bracket


Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 17 December 2018. The first legs were played on 12, 13, 19 and 20 February, and the second legs were played on 5, 6, 12 and 13 March 2019.


Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 15 March 2019. The first legs were played on 9 and 10 April, and the second legs were played on 16 and 17 April 2019.


Semi-finals

The draw for the semi-finals was held on 15 March 2019 (after the quarter-final draw). The first legs were played on 30 April and 1 May, and the second legs were played on 7 and 8 May 2019.
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
staged an improbable 4–0 comeback win against
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
in a return leg fixture at Anfield, having lost the first leg to the Spanish side 3–0 at the Camp Nou. Meanwhile,
Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...
were winning 3–0 on aggregate by the 54th minute of the second leg against Tottenham Hotspur, yet Spurs made a similarly dramatic comeback; with Ajax seconds away from the final,
Lucas Moura Lucas Rodrigues Moura da Silva (born 13 August 1992), known as Lucas Moura (), is a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Winger (association football), winger or Midfielder (association football), attacking midf ...
completed his hat-trick in the 96th minute to seal the tie on the away goals rule. Both semifinals are considered among the greatest Champions League comebacks of all time.


Final


Statistics

Statistics exclude qualifying rounds and play-off round.


Top goalscorers


Top assists


Squad of the season

On 2 June 2019, the UEFA technical study group selected the following 20 players as the squad of the tournament.


Players of the season

Votes were cast for players of the season by coaches of the 32 teams in the group stage, together with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, representing each of UEFA's member associations. The coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own teams. Jury members selected their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. The shortlist of the top three players was announced on 8 August 2019. The award winners were announced and presented during the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on 29 August 2019.


Goalkeeper of the season


Defender of the season


Midfielder of the season


Forward of the season


See also

* 2018–19 UEFA Europa League * 2019 UEFA Super Cup * 2018–19 UEFA Women's Champions League * 2018–19 UEFA Youth League * 2018–19 UEFA Futsal Champions League


References


External links

*
2018/19 UEFA Champions League - Matches
at UEFA.com

at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
2018/19 UEFA Champions League - Scorers
at UEFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 UEFA Champions League UEFA Champions League seasons 1 1