Real Madrid and Manchester City on Tuesday found the going tough in the Champions League group stage, but battled through to draws that were enough to qualify for the knockout stages.
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and SL Benfica also moved closer to the last 16 with a draw at Parc des Princes, after Maccabi Haifa had earlier upset Juventus in the same group. On a bad night for Italian titans, AC Milan played almost the whole match with 10 men as they lost at home to Chelsea.
In Copenhagen, City’s Riyad Mahrez wasted a 25th-minute penalty and five minutes later defender Sergio Gomez was sent off.
Photo: AP
Pep Guardiola had rested several starters, including Erling Haaland, with an eye to the weekend’s meeting with Liverpool, and his team failed to score for the first time in 24 games, but the coach was content.
“To play one hour like that is tough. The players gave absolutely everything,” Guardiola said.
Neither Copenhagen nor Sevilla have won a game yet in Group G and when the Spaniards drew 1-1 in Dortmund in the later match, it ensured Manchester City would advance.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti also had an eye on a big upcoming league game, el Clasico against Barcelona on Sunday, and rested several starters against Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw.
They almost paid. Oleksandr Zubkov gave the Ukrainian club the lead at the start of the second half.
In the last of five minutes added time, Antonio Rudiger leapt to reach a long ball forward and got to it just before goalie Anatoliy Trubin. As the two men fell to the ground bleeding, the ball went in off a post to secure Real a 1-1 draw and a last-16 spot.
RB Leipzig climbed to second in Group F, four points behind Real, with a 2-0 win over Celtic in Glasgow.
Kylian Mbappe scored from the penalty spot, but PSG were held to a 1-1 draw by Benfica in a game overshadowed by reports claiming the France star is so unhappy at the club he wants to leave in January.
PSG’s adviser took the unusual step of speaking to television just before kickoff to deny reports Mbappe wanted to leave.
“I am with Kylian Mbappe every day and he has never spoken to me about leaving in January,” Luis Campos said.
The draw leaves PSG and Benfica five points clear of their two Group H rivals after Maccabi shamed Juventus, 2-0, in Haifa with two goals from Omer Atzili.
“I’m ashamed of what’s happening right now,” Juventus president Andrea Agnelli told Sky Sport Italia.
AC Milan started well against Chelsea, but the game turned when Fikayo Tomori fouled his former Chelsea youth teammate in the 18th minute.
Tomori was sent off and Jorginho converted the penalty. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang added a second.
“I definitely don’t think the referee has had one of his better evenings,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli said.
Chelsea overtook RB Salzburg at the top of Group E after the Austrians drew 1-1 against Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia.
The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 36 points from Tyrese Maxey and a triple-double from Joel Embiid, on Thursday beat the Houston Rockets 128-122 in an NBA overtime thriller. Cameroonian big man Embiid scored 32 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 10 assists, posting the ninth triple-double of his career to help the Sixers end the Rockets’ three-game winning streak. Rockets star Kevin Durant scored 36 points and Amen Thompson added 17, but Thompson was scoreless in the fourth quarter. Even so, the Rockets led by nine midway through the final frame, Maxey tying it at 115-115 with 40.1 seconds left. Durant missed a
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Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
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