The current UEFA Champions League campaign witnessed its first official casualties on Tuesday night as Villarreal and Kairat Almaty crashed out of the competition. Both clubs suffered decisive losses that cemented their positions at the bottom of the 36-team league phase standings.
Villarreal remains stuck on a single point after a narrow 2-1 defeat to Ajax, while Club Brugge effectively ended Kairat Almaty’s journey with a dominant 4-1 victory. With only one game remaining in the initial stage, neither side can mathematically climb high enough to secure a spot in the next round.
The revamped tournament structure dictates that only the top 24 teams advance to the knockout proceedings, leaving the bottom 12 clubs to face immediate elimination. Under these regulations, the elite top eight finishers bypass the preliminary knockout round and move directly into the Round of 16. The remaining 16 teams, ranked ninth through 24th, must compete in a two-legged playoff to determine who joins them. Villarreal and Kairat Almaty now occupy the 35th and 36th spots respectively, having managed only one draw each across seven matches.
This early exit marks a significant disappointment for the Spanish side Villarreal, while Kairat Almaty concludes a historic but difficult debut in the league phase. As the competition enters its final matchday of the group stage, several other clubs find themselves in a precarious battle to avoid joining the eliminated duo. Fans and analysts now shift their focus to the mid-table scramble where goal difference will likely decide which teams survive to see the playoff round in February.
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