Man City rallies to beat Club Brugge and advance in Champions League; PSG also wins and stays in

Champions League recap: City and PSG secure knockout stage spots, facing tough opponents in playoffs.

Manchester City stayed in the Champions League, barely. Paris Saint-Germain saved its elite status in style.

Both had risked embarrassing exits before winning on Wednesday, grateful to be among the 24 teams in the knockout stage. In the new playoffs-round draw Friday, they will also find defending champion Real Madrid or Bayern Munich who finished in mid-table after the 36-team standings was finalized.

City flirted with a disaster before rallying to beat Club Brugge 3-1 in a must-win game. Trailing 1-0 at halftime, and then sitting 26th in the live standings, the 2023 title-winner was sparked by substitute Savinho to avoid elimination.

“In the second half we let our souls and hearts free,” said City manager Pep Guardiola, who had an anguished evening on the sidelines and was shown a yellow card.

City finished 22nd but relief turns to the realization that its playoff round opponent will be either Madrid or Bayern, which slotted into the bracket possibilities in, respectively, 11th and 12th place.

PSG started play in 22nd before cruising to a 4-1 win at Stuttgart, fired by Ousmane Dembélé's hat trick, that eliminated the German club.

The French champion impressed again after a crucial 4-2 comeback win over Man City one week ago, and rose to 15th place. Still, that puts PSG on a path to meet either Liverpool or Barcelona in the round of 16 in March if it wins an all-French playoff against either Monaco or Brest.