The group stages of the top tier of European competition played out to a conclusion yesterday. With the conclusion of the said group stage, the 16 teams that will advance to the knockout stages have been finalised. Here, we take a look at the last set of fixtures to have been played out before the real tournament starts.
Results
- Zenit 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
- Lazio 2-2 Club Brugge
- Chelsea 1-1 Krasnodar
- Rennes 1-3 Sevilla
- Barcelona 0-3 Juventus
- Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 Ferencvaros
- RB Leipzig 3-2 Manchester United
- Ajax 0-1 Atalanta
- Midtjylland 1-1 Liverpool
- PSG 5-1 Istanbul Basaksehir
- Bayern Munich 2-0 Lokomotiv Moscow
- Salzburg 0-2 Atletico Madrid
- Real Madrid 2-0 Borussia Mönchengladbach
- Inter 0-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
- Manchester City 3-0 Marseille
- Olympiacos 0-2 FC Porto
Barcelona 0-3 Juventus
Cristiano Ronaldo managed to score his first two goals against Barcelona in the Champions League as he led the Italian Champions to a victory in Camp Nou. The 3-0 defeat is Barcelona’s first defeat at home in the group stage in over a decade. The last occasion being a 2-0 defeat against Ruben Kazan in 2009.
Weston McKennie managed to convert a beautifully chipped in ball by Juan Cuadrado with an equally mind-blowing finish. Barcelona had plenty of chances to nick one back for themselves but did not manage to beat a resolute Gigi Buffon between the sticks.
RB Leipzig 3-2 Manchester United
The German outfit managed to extract the perfect revenge for the humiliation of the reverse fixture by sending United back to the Europa League. Early goals from Angelino and Amadou Haidara made the comeback very tough for the Red Devils from 11 minutes onwards.
As the scoreline suggests, they didn’t manage to score enough to salvage even a point. Substitute Justin Kluivert scored 13 minutes after coming on to give his team a 3 goal cushion. United managed to snatch two back after another Bruno Fernandes penalty was converted, and an own goal from Leipzig two minutes afterwards. However, it was not enough to keep their Champions League hopes alive.
Real Madrid 2-0 Borussia Monchengladbach
Los Blancos managed to qualify for the knockout stages by beating the Foals, who also managed to make it to the last 16 despite losing the game. A first-half brace from Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema was enough to push the team to the top of the table and qualify for the knockout stages as group winners.
5 – Karim Benzema has become only the fifth player to score 50 goals in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League, after Lionel Messi (71), Cristiano Ronaldo (67), Raúl (53) and Ruud van Nistelrooy (50). Bullseye. pic.twitter.com/WIWqjPTFn8
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 9, 2020
On the other hand, Inter Milan’s draw with Shakhtar saw them drop out of Europe completely as they finished last in their group. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, will be competing in the knockout stages of the Europa League next.
Best Player: Angelino (RB Leipzig)
The Manchester City loanee managed to dispatch the Reds out of the top tier of Europe and back into the Europa League almost single-handedly. He was absolutely on fire throughout the night, and got the better of Manchester United’s defense on many occasions.
Through to Round of 16:
Group Winners:
- Bayern Munich
- Real Madrid
- Manchester City
- Liverpool
- Chelsea
- Dortmund
- Juventus
- Paris Saint-Germain
Group Runners-Up
- Atletico Madrid
- Borussia Monchengladbach
- FC Porto
- Atalanta
- Sevilla
- RB Leipzig
- Barcelona
- Lazio
To Europa Leage K/O Stages
- RB Salzburg
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Olympiacos
- Ajax
- Krasnodar
- Club Brugge
- Dynao Kyiv
- Manchester United
