avoiding Barcelona or Bayern this early is the only reason to finish 1st really. take a look at this:
Real, Wolfsburg/United/PSV, Atlético/Benfica, Barcelona, Bayern, Chelsea/Porto/Dynamo, Zenit - finishing 1st
PSG, Wolfsburg/United/PSV, Atlético/Benfica, Leverkusen/BATE, Olympiakos/Arsenal, Chelsea/Porto/Dynamo, Valencia/Gent - finishing 2nd
we could get teams like PSG, United, Atlético, Arsenal, Chelsea, Valencia even if we finish 1st. so apart from Barcelona and Bayern, not much difference between finishing 1st and 2nd, depending on how these undecided groups end