{"id":21094,"date":"2026-01-20T15:58:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/20\/champions-league-j7-barcelona-and-real-madrid-face-fate-of-avoiding-play-offs\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T15:58:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:58:24","slug":"champions-league-j7-barcelona-and-real-madrid-face-fate-of-avoiding-play-offs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/20\/champions-league-j7-barcelona-and-real-madrid-face-fate-of-avoiding-play-offs\/","title":{"rendered":"Champions League J7: Barcelona and Real Madrid face fate of avoiding play-offs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ue-c-article--first-letter-highlighted\"><span class=\"capital-letter\"\/>Barcelona, \u200b\u200bled by German manager Hansi Flick, have two Champions League finals ahead of them as they aim to break into the top eight clubs and avoid the play-offs. <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Real Madrid, who sit seventh in the overall standings, are in control of their own destiny to avoid any possibility of a play-off.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ue-c-article__summary\">\n<figure class=\"ue-c-article__media ue-c-article__media--video  video-dailymotion\"><figcaption class=\"ue-c-article__media-caption\" itemprop=\"description\">\n<p><span class=\"ue-c-article__media-description\">Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 coaches Thibaut Courtois with a great goal<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Both Spanish clubs will approach this seventh leg of the Champions League with two different perspectives. One team fought for every title, while the other team lost in the finals and was eliminated.<\/p>\n<p>Real Madrid arrive after losing against Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final, which led to the departure of former Real Madrid manager and Liverpool legend Xabi Alonso. In Arbeloa&#8217;s first competitive match with the club, the team lost to second division side Albacete in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey.<\/p>\n<p>Alvaro Arbeloa has already scored a 2-0 league win against Levante in his second game in charge, leaving them just one point behind leaders Barcelona. Real Madrid are currently concentrating on their favorite competition, the Champions League, and will face Ligue 1 side Monaco on Tuesday, January 20th.<\/p>\n<p>Real Madrid are seventh in the overall standings with 12 points, level with Atl\u00e9tico Madrid and Liverpool, who are at the bottom of the table only on goal difference.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona will face SK Slavia Prague in the penultimate match of the Champions League group stage. The Blaugrana are in 15th place with 10 points, level with Newcastle, Chelsea and Sporting CP, but Barcelona are bottom of the table on goal difference.<\/p>\n<p>In order for the Kuhl club to reach the top eight in this phase, they will have to win the remaining two games and wait for a combination that will allow them to enter the next phase without playing the play-offs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/en\/football\/champions-league\/2026\/01\/20\/696f6f03268e3eec3c8b457e.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona, \u200b\u200bled by German manager Hansi Flick, have two Champions League finals ahead of them as they aim to break into the top eight clubs and avoid the play-offs. Meanwhile, Real Madrid, who sit seventh in the overall standings, are in control of their own destiny to avoid any possibility of a play-off. Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Champions League J7: Barcelona and Real Madrid face fate of avoiding play-offs - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/20\/champions-league-j7-barcelona-and-real-madrid-face-fate-of-avoiding-play-offs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Champions League J7: Barcelona and Real Madrid face fate of avoiding play-offs - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Barcelona, \u200b\u200bled by German manager Hansi Flick, have two Champions League finals ahead of them as they aim to break into the top eight clubs and avoid the play-offs. 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