Benfica recorded their best ever group stage campaign with a 6-1 away win over Israeli side Maccabi Haifa.
There was a brief period of optimism for hosts Maccabi Haifa in the first half when Tjaronn Chery equalized from the spot after Benfica’s GonƧalo Ramos had opened the scoring with a close-range header.
But the Portuguese side took control of the game in the second half, putting five goals past Maccabi Haifa’s hapless defense and American goalkeeper Josh Cohen.
The pick of the goals was an Ćlex Grimaldo free-kick, which curled around the wall and into the bottom corner.
JoĆ£o MĆ”rio’s injury-time goal secured top spot in the group.
In the other Group H match, PSG cruised past Juventus, who were already out of the Champions League.
Kylian MbappƩ opened the scoring in the 13th minute with an excellent strike. The Frenchman latched on to a pass from Leo Messi and danced past two Juventus players before curling a shot from outside the area over the goalkeeper into the bottom corner.
Kylian MbappƩ is the youngest player in Champions League history to score 40 goals in the competition.
Sit on the Juventus defense. š#UCL pic.twitter.com/5RkGSpNALm
ā Squawka (@Squawka) November 2, 2022
Juventus responded and soon began to pose a greater threat as Manuel Locatelli came close with a couple of shots. In the 38th minute, the Italian midfielder found Juan Cuadrado who pushed the ball across the goal for Leonardo Bonucci to tap in.
Nuno Mendes scored the winner in the 69th minute with a fine run and shot over the goalkeeper. Locatelli would score a disallowed goal a few minutes later to end what had been a lackluster Champions League campaign for the Italian side.
Rico Lewis signs, Dortmund join Man City in last 16
Man City remain unbeaten as they move past Sevilla in Manchester to top Group G.
Rafa Mir opened the scoring for the visitors with a powerful header from a corner.
In the second half, academy graduate Rico Lewis grabbed his first goal for City, becoming the youngest player in Champions League history to score on his first start in the tournament. At the age of 17 and 346 days, he beat the previous record set by Karim Benzema, who scored for Lyon at the age of 17 and 352 days in 2005.
Lewis was visibly delighted by the moment, cupping his hands over his mouth in celebration.
In the 73rd minute, Kevin de Bruyne curled an inch-perfect through ball to JuliĆ”n Ćlvarez, who calmly rounded Morocco international Yassine Bounou to make it 2-1.
Riyad Mahrez made it 3-1 with an elegant strike after capitalizing on a defensive error to round off a fine night for Man City.
Borussia Dortmund secured their place in the last 16 with an unconvincing performance in a 1-1 draw away to FC Copenhagen.
In the 23rd minute, Thorgan Hazard lifted the ball into the air, letting it hang for a moment before smashing it into the goal on the halfway line. Later in the first half, HƔkon Haraldsson equalized, heading home from close range.
The result left FC Copenhagen bottom of the group with no wins in this season’s Champions League campaign.
Los Blancos beat Celtic
Real Madrid topped their group in emphatic style, defeating Celtic, who finish the group stage with just 2 points.
The Spanish champions, who lost their previous Champions League game against RB Leipzig, were in blistering form as they cruised to a 5-1 win at the Bernabeu last night.
The hosts converted two first-half penalties before Croatian right-back Josip Juranovic missed a penalty for Celtic.
Los Blancos were dominant in the second half and scored three more goals before Celtic’s Jota scored a consolation free-kick.
In Group F’s other game, RB Leipzig saw off Shakhtar Donetsk with a convincing 0-4 win. The match was played in Poland due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The result leaves RB Leipzig second behind group winners Real Madrid, while Shakhtar Donetsk drop to the Europa League.
AC Milan reach the round of 16 for the first time since 2014
AC Milan secured second place in Group E after beating RB Salzburg 4-0 at the San Siro.
Olivier Giroud grabbed a shot and was unlucky to have another goal conceded for a marginal offside.
Rafael LeĆ£o was also impressive on the night, skirting the entire penalty area before sending in a perfectly weighted cross for Giroud to score Milan’s third.
2014: The last Milan team to reach the round of 16 šø #UCL sign || #UCL pic.twitter.com/l4RAczN40t
ā UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 3, 2022
Chelsea topped the group with an important win over bottom-finishing Dinamo Zagreb.
Bruno PetkoviÄ headed in an early goal before Raheem Sterling equalised, ending his two-month goal drought. Sterling curled the ball past two players in the box after latching on to a pass from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Swiss midfielder Denis Zakaria enjoyed a dream debut for Chelsea, scoring with half an hour to go after Mason Mount set the ball up for him.
