UEFA Champions League Final Group Phase Round Predictions (28-01-2026)

The final round of the UEFA Champions League group phase will take place on January 28, 2026, with Borussia Dortmund and Inter, Arsenal and Kairat Almaty, Chelsea and Napoli, PSG and Newcastle, and Barcelona and Copenhagen facing off, with the results determining the teams’ final standings in the competition.

Dortmund complicated their chances to finish in the top 8 themselves in the previous fixtures against Tottenham. After conceding an early goal, the German side lost their composure and team midfielder Daniel Svensson got sent off in only the 24th minute.

Shortly D.Solanke doubled the lead and Borussia were not able to answer with anything while playing with 10 men. Now BVB’s final position will be heavily impacted by other scorelines on the final matchday and nothing is guaranteed.

Theoretically, the German side still can finish behind top 24 if they lose this game heavy and either Copenhagen or Napoli find huge wins.

Inter fans have much to worry about as they once again failed against a pot 1 opponent. What is even worse, Arsenal rested a few starting line up players for the Premier League and still pulled a 1-3 win at the San Siro.

For Nerazzurri this was their 3rd straight Champions League loss, which blasted them to 14th place. C.Chivu’s poor results versus top competition continues and this match is another chance to break the unwanted record.

Despite their terrible current run, Inter are already guaranteed a promotion spot, but they should seek to improve their current position in order to avoid a stronger opponent in the knockout stage.

What Should We Expect?

Since Borussia still have a slim chance to miss the next stage if this game ends in a loss, we should see them pushing for a goal right from the start. Inter failed to keep a clean sheet versus any top opposition in this season, but were able to find a goal or two themselves.

The recent games against Arsenal and Napoli surprised us with the amount of goals, therefore, we are expecting to see both sides to score in this game.

Last week Arsenal showed their greatness and why they are in first place again. The Gunners traveled to Milano to face Inter and coach M.Arteta benched D.Rice, likely to save him for Premier League clashes, but yet it did not stop Arsenal from winning.

In a surprisingly open game, G.Jesus brace and Gyokeres goal earned the team 7th win out of possible 7 and now Arsenal are guaranteed to finish 1st regardless of the last round outcome. The English giants now can be the first team to win all 8 group stage games in a new UEFA format, which was introduced in 2024/2025 season.

Kairat Almaty were unable to pull up any surprises lately and last week suffered their 4 straight defeat. The Kazakhs hosted Club Brugge who only had 4 points before the match, but were outclassed in a crushing 1-4 loss.

Kairat side scored their only goal of the match in the last minute of the game with the score being 0-4 and celebrated it like a match winner. This tells us a lot about the club’s purpose in the competition and at this point the team is just enjoying this historic journey. With 1 point the team officially lost the chance to qualify further and this match will be only a formality.

What Should We Expect?

There is no doubt that M.Arteta’s main focus these days is the Premier League. Arsenal should enter this game with a B or even C line up and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see youth academy players making their Champions League or senior team debut.

The Gunners have +18 goal difference versus Bayern’s +11 and should finish 1st. Regardless of that, the incredible squad depth and great youth academy should be still too much for Kairat and we are expecting a clear, but not incredibly heavy Arsenal win.

Antonio Conte’s poor European competitions record continues as Napoli now finds themselves one step behind the promotion place and at least a draw might not be enough depending on the other results. Napoli surprisingly were not able to beat 10-men Copenhagen in Denmark even after getting an early lead.

This was only the first point in an away fixture in the Champions League for them and the Italian side collected both wins at home versus Qarabag and Sporting while being favourites to do so. Napoli still competes for the scudetto, so at this point it is unclear how valuable the Champions League results are for the team.

Last week Chelsea were only able to break the deadlock against the bottom side Pafos in the 78th minute of the game, but did look dominant and impressive throughout the whole game. This win lifted the Blues to the 8th position, however, there are at least 10 teams who could potentially take their place away.

Chelsea is one of the worst away teams in this season as they hold 1D, 2L record the only draw being against huge underdogs Qarabag. Seems like under the new manager the team plays a different football, but they still have to improve their position in the Premier League, since they are behind the top 5.

What Should We Expect?

Although, for Napoli the Scudetto race is more important, failing to qualify for the knockout stages would result with fans and media expressing their unhappiness with the result. Napoli should press the opponent from the start and look for the win with a great home record boosting their confidence.

Chelsea does not have to lose a lot, but top 8 finish should still be their aim or at least not going down under top 15th where you can easily get pot 1 opponent in the first knockout stage. To avoid such a scenario, Chelsea should not rest on their laurels and stay away from defeat, attacking the opposition back too, which should lead to bets at top bookmakers on both teams scoring at least a goal.

Reigning champions surprisingly suffered their second loss of the season in the last week while traveling away to Portugal where they faced Lisbon in a 1-2 loss. Despite it being the second straight winless game in the competition, PSG remains in the top 8 while sitting in 6th place.

However, 7 more teams have the same amount of points, therefore realistically only a win would guarantee automatic promotion to the quarter finals. With the French Super Cup already in hand, PSG can focus on this game 100% and later solve the problems in the Ligue 1 where they are 2nd.

In 2026 so far Newcastle deserves our applause as they started to finally show better results in the Premier League while keeping great Champions League form. The Magpies earned 3rd straight home win of this competition beating the visitors PSV comfortably 3-0.

With this win now they are 7th, which at this point should be considered as overachievement. However, E.Howe’s men reclaimed the respect in the Premier League earning 10 points in the last 4 games and now are back in the fight for the European spots sitting only two points behind 5th place.

What Should We Expect?

PSG now have not only a great chance to secure the promotion to the quarter finals, but also to eliminate the direct opponent from the race as these both teams are neighbours in the league table. With two straight poor performances, PSG should be willing to prove that it was only a fluke and this win would erase fans memory.

With A.Hakimi back from the International duty and L.Hernandez back from the suspension, PSG will strike with a full force and are favourites to win this match despite Newcastle’s great run. Newcastle already failed to match pot 1 team level losing against Barca and this game should not be any different.

Last week Barcelona once again showed us why they are one of the best attacking sides in the world beating Slavia 2-4 and with 18 goals being the 6th best scoring team in the competition. However, this record is less important, since the team is out of top 8 at the moment, which guarantees promotion to the quarter finals.

With Real Oviedo and later Elche to play in the La Liga, where the Catalunya side are first, but only 1 point above the rivals Real Madrid, Barca can save the main players for this game, since it is very likely that a win in this game would get them a top 8 spot.

Copenhagen had one of the worst first halves of the group phase in the whole tournament, but did turn things around with two wins over Villarreal and Kairat and later drew against Napoli while being down to the 10 men.

This run kept their hopes of the next stage alive as they are just out of the top 24 due to a poor goal difference which is now -6. Although in the Danish Superliga they are only 5th, a top 6 finish guarantees a further chance to compete for the title, keeping this game a number one priority of the week.

What Should We Expect?

For Barca only a win might now be enough due to many sides currently having the same amount of points and also team goal difference being +5 which is not that impressive. The Spanish giants should seek for a big win in order to have more chances to finish in the top 8 and with Raphinha back in action and Yamal back from the suspension, the potential to create another goals festival is there.

Copenhagen has the worst goal difference of all teams which share 8 points and several other teams that could surpass them in the standings. It is very likely that only a point here would not be enough for them to finish in the top 24, which means that the Danish side will be forced to attack as well.