How many points Aston Villa need to qualify for Champions League knockouts

Aston Villa beat BSC Young Boys in Switzerland
-Credit: (Image: Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)


Aston Villa made the perfect start to their Champions League campaign after beating BSC Young Boys 3-0 at the Wankdorf Stadium ahead of back-to-back home ties against Bayern Munich and Bologna.

Villa also host Juventus in November and Celtic for their final league phase game at the end of January. By then, Villa may have already qualified for the knockout play-offs depending on how well they do in their next three away games.

Unai Emery's side face away trips to Club Brugge, RB Leipzig - who both lost in matchweek one - and AS Monaco in the coming months. As this is the first season of a new Champions League format, nobody really knows how many points will be needed to avoid elimination and qualify for the knockout rounds in the league phase structure.

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Instead of the traditional eight groups of four - with the top two from each group qualifying for the last 16 - a new 'Swiss-style' 36-league format has been introduced this season.

The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the last 16 , while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off against each other to join the top eight teams in that round of the competition. The bottom 12 teams - from 25th to 36th - will be eliminated with no access to the Europa League.

The Opta supercomputer, via Sky Sports, believes that to finish in the top 24, which guarantees you a play-off spot at least, teams will need 10 points. Having already secured three points, Villa would need two more wins and a draw from their remaining seven matches.

In 69 per cent of of the simulations, nine points was enough to secure access to the knockout rounds, Villa needing just two more wins to reach that total. However, a tally of eight points was sufficient in just 16 per cent of the simulations.

The Opta supercomputer believes 16 points from a possible 24 would almost certainly be enough to finish in the top eight, which guarantees you a last 16 spot. The data also believes 15 points could be enough to sneak into eighth place, with that points tally being enough in 73 per cent of Opta's 50,000 simulations of the league phase.

How many points will Villa secure in the Champions League? Tell us in the comments below