CHAMPIONS LEEAGUE RESULTS
BARCA SMASHES VIKTORIA PLZEN
Barcelona defeated Victoria Plzen 4-2 despite the fact that both teams had already been eliminated. In
each half, Ferran Torres scored a goal. Following Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in Group C, Barcelona slipped into the Europa League. Viktoria Plzen ended their European campaign without a point. Six minutes into the game, Barcelona scored thanks to a goal from defender Marcos Alonso after the ball
eluded Plzen’s goalkeeper. Barcelona rested some of their regulars, including Polish striker Robert
Lewandowski.
Just before halftime, the visitors increased their lead when Jordi Alba skillfully headed the ball to an open
Torres, who gently put the ball into the goal after it had initially been disallowed until a VAR review.
After winning a penalty kick in the 51st minute, the Czech champions briefly cut the deficit in half before
Torres scored his second goal of the evening on the break minutes later.
In response, Plzen attempted to create a tense finale with a looping Chory header in the 63rd minute.
However, Pablo Torre sealed the victory on his Barcelona debut by slamming a shot into the roof of the
net.
LIVERPOOOL NETTED NAPOLI 2-0 TO FINISH TOP ON GROUP A
Goal-line technology aids in the match report and the award Darwin Nunez’s injury-time goal is made
possible by Mohamed Salah’s scrambling late goal, and Liverpool will be seeded last in the last-16 draw.
Liverpool defeated Napoli 2-0 thanks to late goals from Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez, but the
Italians nevertheless won Group A of the Champions League.
Neither team really got out of second gear throughout the game because there was no serious threat of
Liverpool overturning a four-goal margin to win the group. However, two late goals from Liverpool were scored by Salah, who poked in from close range after Alex Meret cleared Nunez’s header off the line, and Nunez, who was given a goal by VAR after putting in Virgil Van Dijk’s saved first header.
On minute 53, Napoli believed Leo Ostigard had given them the lead with a header. However, VAR
reversed the goal after a three-minute review revealed the center-back had been in front of the action. It was a much better night for Liverpool at Anfield than the 2-1 Premier League loss to Leeds on Saturday.
He stated:”I would have enjoyed the game even without the goals but they are important stuff. We
showed a really good reaction. Being compact makes all the difference. All of a sudden we have the
challenges in the right spaces and we are difficult to play against.
“If you have seen what Napoli can do it was a really good game for us. I saw a lot of courage and bravery. Two set-pieces got us the points and to take 15 (points) in this group is absolutely insane.”
Klopp said: “I don’t doubt the quality, no one has doubted the quality. That’s been part of the problem as
we don’t show consistency. That’s why I mentioned the second goal against Leeds as an example of a
situation where you defend with all you have but we were chasing the game.”When we defended, we
defended with all we had tonight. We were compact.”
“Nobody has forgotten what we did last season, the boys haven’t forgotten it but it’s not important. I know people are going to get sick of me saying it but we really have to fight through and then the real football that we can play can come back. But tonight we showed everything. Really good pieces of football and the defensive stuff was a high level. Napoli are a real force so it could have been really difficult tonight. Consistency and stability is what we need to get.”
BAYERN NAILS INTERMILAN 2-0
Club Brugge finishes second in their Champions League group after failing to win against Bayer
Leverkusen on Tuesday, instead drawing 0-0 in their last Group B encounter. Bayern Munich completes faultless group stage by defeating fellow qualifiers Inter Milan by a score of 2-0.
Mehdi Taremi and Stephen Eustaquio scored goals to help Porto defeat Atletico Madrid 2-1 at home on
Tuesday and take first place in Group B of the Champions League. Forward Taremi gave Porto the lead
in the fifth minute by tapping in a cross from Evanilson for his fifth Champions League goal of the year.
Porto, which had already advanced to the round of 16, outperformed Club Brugge to win the group with
12 points, one point more than the Belgians who also advanced. Ivan Marcano, a defender for Porto,
scored an own goal in extra time, but Porto still managed to secure the three points. Atletico Madrid
came in bottom place, without even making it into the second-tier play-offs for the Europa League
knockout stage.
Bayern Munich defeated Inter Milan, eliminating Atletico Madrid from the competition. Atletico’s Antoine
Griezmann scored the winning goal in the 68th minute, but the referee had already blown the whistle for
a foul by Rodrigo De Paul on Galeno in the build-up. Six minutes later, Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa
saved a shot from Angel Correa.
PORTO TRIUMPHED OVER ATLETICO MADRID
Mehdi Taremi and Stephen Eustaquio scored goals to help Porto defeat Atletico Madrid 2-1 at home on
Tuesday and take first place in Group B of the Champions League. Porto, which had already advanced to the round of 16, outperformed Club Brugge to win the group with 12 points, one point more than the Belgians who also advanced. Atletico Madrid came in bottom place, without even making it into the second-tier play-offs for the Europa League knockout stage.
Bayern Munich swept aside Inter Milan In their last Group C match, Benjamin Pavard and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored for Bayern Munich to defeat Inter Milan 2-0 and finish an undefeated group campaign. With both teams having already advanced to the knockout round, Bayern finished first with 18 points, eight points ahead of Inter in second place.
Barcelona placed third with seven points, was eliminated in the group stage, and was forced to accept a
spot in the Europa League for the second consecutive season. It was a game with no stakes for Bayern or Inter, so it won’t stick in the memory for very long.
FRANKFURT CRUSHES SPORTING LISBON
In other news, Eintracht Frankfurt pulled off a second-half comeback to defeat Sporting 2-1 and advance
to the round of 16 of the Champions League for the first time, eliminating the Portuguese team from the
competition.
With 10 points from six games, Eintracht finished second in Group D. Tottenham Hotspur took first place
with 11 points after a dramatic 2-1 victory over the bottom-dwelling Olympique de Marseille. Third-place
Sporting will stay in the Europa League.
Brugge finish second and Leverkusen third in Group B.
Due to their inability to defeat Bayer Leverkusen, Club Brugge placed second in the group, drawing 0-0.
Brugge, who had emerged as the group’s biggest surprise, had already qualified for the round of 16 in
February after their first four games.
But after losing to Porto 4-0 at home the previous week and drawing at the Bay Arena on Tuesday, they
finished with 11 points from their six games, one fewer than Porto. On the basis of their head-to-head results against the Spanish club, Leverkusen finished third and moved ahead of Atletico to claim a Europa League spot. Both teams finished with five points.
On Tuesday, Brugge came the closest to winning when Canadian Tajon Buchanan hit the post shortly
after halftime, but Leverkusen were the more aggressive team and forced Brugge goalkeeper Simon Mignolet to make some crucial stops. In the six group games, Mignolet recorded five shutouts.
By Brian Simiyu
