Berlin, 30 January 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Manchester City survived a huge scare to stay alive in the Champions League when they had to come from behind to beat Club Brugge 3-1 on Wednesday and reach the play-offs for the last 16.

There an even tougher test awaits them because they will either face defending and record champions Real Madrid or five-time winners Bayern Munich, with the draw set for Friday.

On a night of high drama with 18 matches in the league stage finale, Pep Guadriola's men fell behind on the stroke of half-time when Brugge's Raphael Onyedika fired into the bottom right corner.

But Mateo Kovacic got the equalizer seven minutes after the restart, Joel Ordonez' own goal off Josko Gvardiol's low cross in the 62nd made it 2-1, and Savinho wrapped up matters in the 77th as City climbed into the play-off spots in 22nd place.

Paris Saint-Germain, who beat City 4-2 last week, also faced a shock early exit, but a hat-trick from Ousmane Dembele helped them win 4-1 at VfB Stuttgart, which eliminated the Germans.

Liverpool finished top despite dropping their first points in a 3-2 defeat at PSV Eindhoven with an understrength team, ahead of Barcelona who were held 2-2 by Atalanta who with the draw lost their top eight place for direct entry into the last 16.

The others directly through are Arsenal, Inter Milan, whose Lautaro Martinez scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 over Monaco, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, who thrashed Feyenoord 6-1 to rise from 12th to seventh, and Aston Villa.

Seven-time champions AC Milan dropped out of the top eight with a 2-1 defeat at eliminated Dinamo Zagreb, and along with Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern, Real, PSG, PSV and Benfica are the seeded teams for the play-off draw, finishing ninth to 16th.

They face the teams ranked 17th to 24th: Monaco, Brest, Feyenoord, Juventus, Celtic, City, Sporting and Brugge in a draw partly pre-determined by a bracket system.

Photo: EPA