Napoli won 2-1 at Benfica on Tuesday night to qualify for the Champions League last 16 as Group B winners, with the Portuguese side also going through thanks to Besiktas being thrashed at Dynamo Kiev.
Three teams - Napoli, Benfica and Besiktas - had headed into the final round of matches separated by just one point at the top of the pool, and the Italian side's triumph in Portugal assured their progress. Second-half goals from Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens proved decisive, with Raul Jimenez's 88th-minute strike the hosts' only reply.
The result in Portugal meant Besiktas could have overtaken Benfica, but they had to settle for a Europa League berth after going down 6-0 in the snow at Dynamo Kiev.
The Turkish team had two men sent off - Andreas Beck after 29 minutes and Vincent Aboubakar on 56 - and went down to goals from Artem Biesiedin, Andriy Yarmolenko, Vitaly Buyalsky, Derlis Gonzalez, Serhiy Sydorchuk and substitute Junior Moraes.
Lucas Perez scored a hat-trick as Arsenal, who had already qualified for the last 16, secured top spot in Group A with a 4-1 victory in Basle. Alex Iwobi was also on target, with Seydou Doumbia's 78th-minute goal scant consolation for the home team.
Paris St Germain - already also safely through before kick-off - would have finished ahead of Arsene Wenger's men on head-to-head record if they had beaten Ludogorets at home, but could only manage a 2-2 draw.
Virgil Misidjan and Wanderson twice put the Bulgarian side ahead and, although the French champions twice got back level - first through Edinson Cavani and then via Angel Di Maria in stoppage time - they could not force a winner.
An Arda Turan hat-trick added to Lionel Messi's early strike made for an easy night for Group C winners Barcelona - 4-0 victors at the Nou Camp against Borussia Monchengladbach.
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City were already assured of second spot, and ended their group campaign with a 1-1 home draw against last-placed Celtic.
Kelechi Iheanacho got City back on level terms on eight minutes, after on-loan Celtic forward Patrick Roberts had netted early on against his parent club to give Brendan Rodgers' visitors the lead.
Robert Lewandowski's 28th-minute free-kick earned Bayern Munich a 1-0 home triumph over Atletico Madrid, ending the Group D winners' 100 per cent record. Both teams were already assured of their progress.
Russian side FC Rostov will continue their European adventure in the Europa League having made sure of third place by avoiding defeat in their clash with PSV Eindhoven. It finished 0-0 at the Philips Stadion.
0 comments:
Post a Comment