The knockout round of the Champions League marks the start of the hot phase of the tournament. “Win or fly” is the motto. Only those who win will advance in the Champions League Tournament Tree 2025.
But what exactly does the new Champions League tournament tree look like? Who will face each other from the round of 16 onwards and what happens for the teams in the quarter-finals and semi-finals?
We show the Champions League tournament tree 2025 with all matches, dates and results. This is the route to the final in Munich.
Champions League tournament tree – round by round
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Champions League tournament tree for the quarter-finals
CL tournament tree for the semi-finals
The final
The Champions League 2025 tournament tree – the route to the final
The route through the knockout rounds of the 2025 Champions League is clearly laid out in the tournament tree.
In one half of the Champions League tournament tree is the best team from the league phase – Liverpool FC. They are joined by Arsenal (third-best team in the group stage) and Atletico Madrid (5th).
In the other half of the CL match schedule are FC Barcelona, the second-best team after the preliminary round, and Inter Milan (fourth). In this half of the 2025 Champions League tournament tree, there are also the three German teams – Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund.
This is how it continues in the Champions League tournament tree
The seeding in the new CL schedule is designed so that Liverpool (1st in the group stage) and Arsenal (3rd) can only meet in the semi-finals. The same applies to the other side of the Champions League bracket for Barcelona (2nd) and Inter Milan (4th). Prerequisite: They win in the round of 16 and quarterfinals.
Thus, the winner of the first round of 16 (Liverpool – PSG) will face the winner of the second round of 16 (Aston Villa – Bruges) in the quarter-finals. The winners of the third round of 16 (Real – Atletico) and fourth round of 16 (Arsenal – Eindhoven) will play against each other in the quarter-finals.
Here, PSG and Aston Villa and Real Madrid and Arsenal will cross paths in the last eight. Will it come to a Paris vs. Real Madrid duel in the semi-finals?
From a German perspective, the 2025 Champions League tournament tree is interesting on the other side – all three German teams can be found here!
In round of 16 5, FC Barcelona and SL Benfica will play for a place in the quarter-finals. Round of 16 6 will see Borussia Dortmund take on OSC Lille. Round of 16 7 will be an all-German affair between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, and round of 16 8 will see Inter Milan take on Feyenoord Rotterdam.
The quarter-finals are: FC Barcelona – Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich – Inter Milan. This also makes it clear that the Champions League tournament tree could see another German duel in the semi-finals – Bayern – BVB!
However, the 2025 CL tournament bracket also shows that only PSG or Real Madrid can reach the final, but also that a Spanish duel between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona is possible in the final on May 31 in Munich.
