Mohamed Salah’s first-half goal and a stunning late save from goalkeeper Alisson on Tuesday saw Liverpool edge into the Champions League knockout stage after a tense 1-0 win over SSC Napoli, while Lucas Moura’s late strike saw Tottenham Hotspur progress with a 1-1 draw at Barcelona.
Last year’s runners-up Liverpool knew that victory by two goals or a 1-0 triumph would put them through to the last 16 from Group C, and Salah’s 34th-minute strike proved enough as they finished ahead of Napoli on goals scored.
“Wow, what a game. I am not sure a manager could be prouder of a team than I am,” Reds manager Jurgen Klopp told BT Sport.
Photo: AP
Liverpool grabbed the crucial goal, as Salah jinked past Kalidou Koulibaly inside the area and slotted the ball beyond goalkeeper David Ospina.
Salah continued to run Napoli ragged early in the second half, but Ospina saved from Jordan Henderson and James Milner curled wide, as Carlo Ancelotti’s men stayed a goal from turning the group on its head.
The atmosphere around Anfield became increasingly tense as the Premier League leaders continued to miss opportunities, with Ospina springing to his left to tip away Salah’s attempted lob before denying Mane from point-blank range.
Napoli almost made the Reds pay in the dying moments.
The ball fell for substitute striker Arkadiusz Milik unmarked in the area, but Alisson raced from his line to keep out the Pole’s strike with his legs.
“I have no idea how Alisson made a save like this,” Klopp said. “It was amazing.”
Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) reached the knockout rounds as group winners thanks to a 4-1 victory over Red Star Belgrade, with Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani all on the score sheet.
PSG went into their match in Belgrade knowing that victory would send them through, and Edinson Cavani gave the French champions the perfect start by tapping in after an excellent run and pass by Kylian Mbappe.
Neymar’s strike five minutes before halftime appeared to have put the game to bed, but Red Star pulled one back before the hour mark through Marko Gobeljic.
However, PSG finally sealed their spot in the last 16 as Marquinhos headed in Angel di Maria’s free-kick with 16 minutes to go and Mbappe added further gloss to the scoreline in added time.
“We made mistakes, but I really liked the reaction after Belgrade’s goal. We controlled the match,” PSG coach Thomas Tuchel told RMC Sport.
Tottenham went into their final Group B game at the Camp Nou needing to match Inter Milan’s result against PSV Eindhoven, but Mauricio Pochettino’s side fell behind in only the seventh minute as Ousmane Dembele scored a wonderful individual goal.
However, Hirving Lozano gave PSV a shock early advantage at the San Siro to leave Tottenham heading through as it stood.
“I always believed it was possible to win the game,” Pochettino told BT Sport. “We fully deserved to go through with Barcelona. We were the best [two] teams in a difficult group.”
Borussia Dortmund snatched top spot in Group A with a 2-0 win over rock-bottom Monaco, as Atletico Madrid were held to a goalless draw at Club Brugge.
In Group D, Galatasaray secured a Europa League last-32 place despite losing 3-2 to Porto in an entertaining game that saw two of three penalties scored.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later