Manchester United and Juventus were among the sides to clinch a place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, while Bayern Munich gained a measure of revenge over Paris Saint-Germain.
United, Juventus, AS Roma and Basel all went through with victories in their final group games, but Atletico Madrid, the defeated finalists in 2014 and last year, were eliminated.
Jose Mourinho’s United side came from behind to beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 at Old Trafford as they reach the knockout rounds for the first time since 2013-2014.
Photo: AFP
Only a heavy defeat could have eliminated United in Group A, but Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford scored two minutes apart in the second half to seal victory at Old Trafford, where they are unbeaten in 40 games in all competitions now.
CSKA had taken the lead on the stroke of halftime, a shot from the Brazilian Vitinho going in off the back of Alan Dzagoev.
“I’m really happy, because we don’t want to qualify with a defeat, we don’t want to qualify with a bad performance,” Mourinho said.
CSKA drop into the UEFA Europa League, while Basel reached the last 16 for the third time this decade, the Swiss champions beating SL Benfica 2-0 in Lisbon with goals from Mohamed Elyounoussi and Dimitri Oberlin.
Last season’s beaten finalists Juventus progressed from Group D thanks to their 2-0 win away to Olympiakos, Juan Cuadrado opening the scoring early on before Federico Bernardeschi completed the victory late on.
The Italian champions go through behind Barcelona, who rounded off their group phase by easing to a 2-0 win at home against Sporting Lisbon.
Lionel Messi was left on the bench at a sparsely populated Camp Nou as Paco Alcacer headed the hosts in front and Jeremy Mathieu then scored an own-goal against his old side. Sporting drop into the Europa League.
Roma knew they would go through from Group C with a win, which they got, although they could only edge out Qarabag of Azerbaijan 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico with a Diego Perotti effort in the second half.
That turned out to be enough for Roma to win the section ahead of Chelsea, who had to come from behind to draw 1-1 at home to Atletico.
Saul Niguez headed Atletico in front on 56 minutes at Stamford Bridge, but Eden Hazard’s ball across goal was turned into his own net by Stefan Savic to restore parity.
Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who have only been knocked out by Real Madrid in each of the past four years, reaching at least the quarter-finals every time, must now accept a spot in the Europa League. They won that trophy in 2010 and 2012.
“I am not looking anywhere, but forward. This will help us for sure. These situations, apart from the frustration of not being in the next round, will help the team move forward and onto the Europa League,” Simeone told beIN Sports Spain.
Bayern and PSG had already secured qualification from Group B, but met at the Allianz Arena with first place still up for grabs.
Having lost 3-0 in Paris in September, Bayern needed to win by four goals to leapfrog Neymar and co.
They gave themselves a chance, with Robert Lewandowski and Corentin Tolisso both heading home in the first half.
Kylian Mbappe got one back just after the break, leaving Bayern with too much to do, although Tolisso did score again to make it 3-1.
PSG will be the happier side at winning the group, although possible last-16 opponents for them are Chelsea, Juventus and Real Madrid.
“I am 50 percent happy and 50 percent disappointed,” PSG coach Unai Emery said.
Celtic, who lost 7-1 at PSG last time out, lost 1-0 at home to RSC Anderlecht after a Jozo Simunovic own-goal in the second half.
Despite a fifth loss in six group games, they limp into the Europa League in the new year.
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