Manchester City qualified automatically for the Champions League knockout stages thanks to a dramatic final matchday win vs Galatasaray
Manchester City's players celebrate during the 2-0 victory over Galatasaray in the Champions League
Manchester City's players celebrate during the 2-0 victory over Galatasaray in the Champions League(Image: Mike Morese/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Manchester City have been awarded more than £42m in prize money after the Champions League league phase came to an end on Wednesday night in dramatic circumstances. The Blues knew at the beginning of the evening they would need to win and hope results elsewhere went in their favour to qualify automatically for the knockouts.
City managed to do their part relatively comfortably against Galatasaray thanks to Erling Haaland's early chip and Rayan Cherki's strike just before the half hour mark. Omar Marmoush and Tijjani Reijnders had opportunities to add further gloss to the scoreline but 2-0 would be enough to gain the three points they needed.
However, with Sporting, Barcelona and Chelsea all winning their matches, City needed two other results to go their way to advance to the knockout stages. PSG and Newcastle United's draw completed half of the job before Benfica's stunning 4-2 win over Real Madrid ensured the Spanish giants just missed out on automatic qualification and will have to settle for the play offs.
With City advancing straight through to the last 16 of the Champions League, they received £9.56m as soon as their place in the top-eight was secured. Before a ball was kicked, £16.18m was awarded to all 36-teams in the Champions League.
City went on to win five matches in the league phase vs Napoli, Villarreal, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid and Galatasaray. Each victory banked the Blues £1.82m, resulting in £9.1m being earned through their results. The Blues' solitary draw against AS Monaco added a further £607,000 to their prize pot.
Finally, Pep Guardiola's side earned £239,000 for each position they finished above the bottom. Due to the Blues ending the league phase in eighth, this meant they banked £6.931m for their end position in the table.
Once added together, the Blues have managed to rack up £42.378m for their success in the league phase of the competition. And, this is not the end amount City will walk away with by the end of the Champions League.
City will also gain a share of the broadcast revenue and shall earn more money depending on how they perform in the knockout stages of the Champions League. In the last 16, City will face either Real Madrid, Benfica, Inter Milan or Bodo/Glimt.