Man City will play Real Madrid or Bayern after their comeback victory saved their CL campaign.

After rallying from behind to defeat Club Brugge 3-1 and place 22nd out of the 24 qualifying teams, Manchester City managed to sneak into the Champions League play-off phase.

The cost of such a poor season is that they will have to play Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the February playoffs with only three victories from eight games.

After a goods kiosk outside the stadium caught fire, City's night got off to a worrisome start. It required a thrilling comeback in the second half to make sure their prospects of qualifying for Europe were not put in jeopardy.

Pep Guardiola demanded "something special" before the game, and he got it—at least in the first half—when City was unable to produce any motivation, intensity, or shots on goal before Raphael Onyedika stung them on the break.

Even after giving up a 2-0 lead against PSG to lose 4-2 last week, City knew they would be eliminated early from the competition they won just 18 months ago if they didn't win, but they still lacked the will to damage Brugge.

Fortunately for Guardiola, everything changed at halftime when Savinho replaced llkay Gundogan. By creating openings and posing a greater danger, Mateo Kovacic was able to drive through the middle of midfield and score the equaliser.

After that, things were a little easier. With 13 minutes remaining, Savinho scored a well-worked third goal after catching a fantastic pass from John Stones, and Josko Gvardiol forced inexperienced defender Joel Ordonez to turn through his own net.

Guardiola acknowledges that City 'cannot win Champions League'.

Pep Guardiola, manager of Man City:

"I was certain that the media had already made their headlines when I spotted the fire prior to the game. We left, but we're moving forward now.

Maybe we felt the strain. "Brugge defends so tight, they go man to man. We need the quality and the spark to make the right action to score." We achieved the targets at the appropriate times, and the new structure has been really challenging.

Important clubs may experience what we experienced this season in the future. Nothing is taken for granted, which is an amazing lesson for the players, the club, and me first and foremost.

When asked if Man City is still a strong candidate to win the Champions League this year, he replied, "Not at this time. I'm quite realistic; things are as they are.

"I don't know where we'll be in two weeks, but these teams [Bayern and Real] have more experience than us, so it would be tough if we had to play tomorrow. We'll see what happens when we attempt it and prepare thoroughly."

Nicky Hayen, head coach of Club Brugge, is pleased to qualify:

"I'm rather pleased with our performance in the group phase. Tonight, we were really disciplined in the first half and kept things short. We performed incredibly well even though we knew there were opportunities behind their defence.

"We began making minor errors in the second half, and City is top-notch; they discipline you right away. We strive to challenge ourselves daily, to have a plan, and to execute it as flawlessly as possible.

"We are quite happy, we are ambitious and now we can go in the next round in an open way."

The knockout drawings are when?

Following the league round, there will be two draws to decide who will play whom in the knockout stages.

Which of the two possibilities each team receives in the elimination playoffs will be decided by the first draw, which takes place on Friday, January 31 at 11 a.m. For instance, a team that finishes in 13th place will be able to determine whether they will face the team that finishes in 19th or 20th place.

The second leg of the playoff round matches between the ninth and sixteenth seeded teams will be played at home on February 11/12 and February 18/19.

The opponents of the teams ranked first through eighth will not be known until Friday, February 21.

Their entire route to the final will be mapped out based on the draw, which will also decide who they play in the round of 16.