According to the Champions League Group Stage rules, the top two teams could advance directly to the Round of 16. At first glance, there did not seem to be much difference between finishing first and second, but a closer analysis revealed that the difference was enormous.
The Round of 16 draw pitted the eight group winners against the eight runners-up. In other words, teams that topped their groups could face runners-up from other groups, while the stronger teams generally advanced as group winners.
Therefore, if a team unfortunately finished second in its group, it was very likely to encounter a strong group winner from another group.
Someone had once summarized a classic route to winning the Champions League: from the group stage through the knockout rounds, the opponents' strength gradually increased. The benefit was that the team could gradually find its rhythm and adjust its form, ultimately producing its best performance in the final.
Following that route, encountering a powerful opponent in the Round of 16 was undoubtedly highly disadvantageous.
Real Madrid's draw this season had been awful. In the group stage, they had been drawn against the league champions of the Premier League, Bundesliga, and Eredivisie. All three teams were formidable and extremely troublesome to face. Judging from the first two rounds, however, Man City's main problem still lay with Head Coach Mancini. He had never been a Head Coach who excelled in the Champions League.
Ajax was the weakest of the four teams and had the slimmest chance of fighting for qualification.
Dortmund, on the other hand, had become Real Madrid's biggest rival for top spot in the group. Klopp's team was a genuine threat.
More importantly, according to the Champions League Group Stage schedule, Real Madrid and Dortmund would face each other in consecutive home-and-away matches. Those