2017–18 UEFA Youth League group stage

The 2017–18 UEFA Youth League UEFA Champions League Path (group stage) was played from 12 September to 6 December 2017. A total of 32 teams competed in the UEFA Champions League Path (group stage) to decide 16 of the 24 places in the knockout phase of the 2017–18 UEFA Youth League.^[1]

Draw edit

The youth teams of the 32 clubs which qualified for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage entered the UEFA Champions League Path.^[2] If there was a vacancy (youth teams not entering), it was filled by a team defined by UEFA.^[3]

For the UEFA Champions League Path, the 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four. There was no separate draw held, with the group compositions identical to the draw for the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League group stage, which was held on 24 August 2017, 18:00 CEST, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.^[4]^[5]

Key to colours
Group winners advance to the round of 16
Group runners-up advance to the play-offs

Pot 1
Team
Real Madrid
Bayern Munich
Chelsea
Juventus
Benfica
Monaco
Spartak Moscow
Shakhtar Donetsk

Pot 2
Team
Barcelona
Atlético Madrid
Paris Saint-Germain
Borussia Dortmund
Sevilla
Manchester City
Porto
Manchester United

Pot 3
Team
Napoli
Tottenham Hotspur
Basel
Olympiacos
Anderlecht
Liverpool
Roma
Beşiktaş

Pot 4
Team
Celtic
CSKA Moscow
Sporting CP
APOEL
Feyenoord
Maribor
Qarabağ
RB Leipzig

Format edit

In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The eight group winners advanced to the round of 16, while the eight runners-up advanced to the play-offs, where they were joined by the eight second round winners from the Domestic Champions Path.

Tiebreakers edit

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (Regulations Articles 14.03):^[1]

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Away goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Away goals scored in all group matches;
Wins in all group matches;
Away wins in all group matches;
Disciplinary points (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points);
Drawing of lots.

Groups edit

The matchdays were 12–13 September, 26–27 September, 17–18 October, 31 October – 1 November, 21–22 November, and 5–6 December 2017.

Times up to 28 October 2017 (matchdays 1–3) were CEST (UTC+2), thereafter (matchdays 4–6) times were CET (UTC+1).

Group A edit

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Basel	6	3	2	1	14	11	+3	11^[a]	Round of 16
2	Manchester United	6	3	2	1	11	9	+2	11^[a]	Play-offs
3	Benfica	6	1	4	1	10	8	+2	7
4	CSKA Moscow	6	1	0	5	8	15	−7	3

Source: UEFA
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Head-to-head results: Manchester United 4–3 Basel, Basel 2–1 Manchester United (Basel won on away goals).

12 September 2017

14:00

Benfica	5–1	CSKA Moscow
Santos 41', 47' J. Gomes 58' Jorginho 86' Embaló 89'	Report	Zhironkin 82'

Futebol Campus, Seixal

Attendance: 466

Referee: Petr Ardeleánu (Czech Republic)

12 September 2017