This bulletin would be review the latest round of matches in the UEFA Champions League.
The penultimate round of group stage matches have been concluded and as it stands, 11 of the 16 expected teams in the Round of 16 have confirmed their qualification, with the remaining five to be decided on the last match day.
Manchester City, Paris Saint Germain, Liverpool, Ajax, Sporting CP, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Chelsea and Juventus have all confirmed qualification Into the Round of 16.
Group G stands out as the only group yet to produce a team in the next round as all four teams still have a chance of qualifying and will wait until the final day to determine who wins the group and qualifies.
Group A
Manchester City had to come from behind at the Etihad to defeat Paris Saint Germain courtesy of goals from Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus, after Kylain Mbappe had given the visitors the lead early in the second half.
RB Leipzig went away to Club Brugge and won 5-0, posing their first win of the competition this season. A brace each from Christopher Nkunku and Emile Forsberg, and one from Andre Silva saw the German side thrash their hosts and kill their hopes of qualification into the next round.
As a result of the outcome of the game in Belgium, PSG claimed second spot behind Manchester City, who won the group. RB Leipzig and Club Brugge will be vying for the Europa League spot in the final group game when both face Manchester City and PSG respectively.
Group B
Liverpool secured perfect 15 points after seeing off FC Porto 2-0 courtesy of goals from Thiago Alcantara and Mohammed Salah.
It was a narrow victory for AC Milan as they required an 87th minute goal by Junior Messias to secure a lone goal victory at the Wandan Metropolitan.
Liverpool have won the group and the remaining three teams will fight for the second and Europa League spots respectively. Should all matches end in draws, Porto will qualify behind Liverpool leaving AC Milan to the Europa League spot as Atletico Madrid will be saying goodbye to European football.
Group C
Ajax completed their clean sweep of points with a 2-1 comeback victory against Besiktas, who are yet to win a point in the competition this season.
Rachid Ghezzal had given the hosts the lead from the penalty spot, before Sebastien Haller continued his fine goalscoring form with a brace to turn things around for the Amsterdam side, hitting his 9th goal of the group stage, joint-high with Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski.
Sporting were too good for Borussia Dortmund, who have since the injury to Erling Haaland suffered a decline.
The German side got a late consolation goal through Donyell Malen after Emre Can had been sent off, reducing them to 10 men with about a quarter of the game to goal.
Pedro Goncalves with a brace and another goal from Pedro Porro had given the Portuguese side a comfortable 3-0 lead.
With Ajax already through as Group winners, Sporting have also qualified for the Round of 16, despite just being three points ahead of Dortmund, but with a better head-to-head over the Germans. Dortmund have settled for life in the Europa League.
Group D
Real Madrid got a sweet revenge against competition's surprise packages, FC Sheriff, who stunned the former champions in Spain in the reverse fixture.
Goals from David Alaba, Toni Kross and Karim Benzema sealed qualification for the Los Blancos.
Inter Milan were two goals better than Shakhtar Donetsk, who have been eliminated from Europe. A brace from the boots of Edin Dzeko sealed qualification into the next round for Inter.
Both Inter Milan and Real Madrid are still in the battle for who wins the group as a draw would be enough for the Los Blancos, regardless of Inter's result due a better head-to-head in favour of Madrid.
A loss for Madrid and a win for Inter would see Inter win the group. Sheriff will be playing the Europa League after initially starting like a house on fire. They should take their brilliant performance as a weapon into the Europa League.
Group E
Bayern Munich, the third of the three teams yet to lose in the Champions League this season (Liverpool and Ajax the other two) eased to a 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kyiv.
Kingsley Coman and Robert Lewandoski, with his 9th goal of the group stage gave the Bavarians the lead, before Denys Harmash grabbed a consolation for the Ukrainians.
Barcelona were held to a goalless draw by Benfica at the Camp Nou, leaving their hopes of qualification for the Round of 16 on the line.
The Catalans are in danger of dropping to the Europa League if they fail to win against Bayern Munich, which is a tough ask in their final group game. Should they avoid defeat, perhaps a draw, their fate will be decided by whether Benfica wins against Dynamo Kyiv or not.
Group F
Manchester United have won Group F, thanks to their 2-0 victory at the El Madrigal over Villarreal, with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho, who scored his first goal in the Reds' shirt.
Atalanta and Young Boys played out a three-all draw in Switzerland. The Swiss side had to come back twice to lead with goals from Theoson Siebatcheu, Vincent Sierro and Silvano Hefti, after Duvan Zapata and Jose Luis Palomino had given the Italians the lead.
Giasperini's men needed a late goal from Luis Muriel to tie the game and keep their hopes of qualification alive.
Aside from Manchester United who have won the group, the three other teams will battle for the second qualification and Europa league spots in the final round of games.
Group G
The only group yet to provide a qualifier into the Round of 16 as all four teams have it all to play for in the last round of games.
Lille OSC recorded a 1-0 victory over RB Salzburg to go top of the group courtesy of a Jonathan David's goal, while Sevilla saw off Wolfsburg 2-0, with Joan Jordan and Rafa Mir getting on the scoresheet.
Group H
Both Chelsea and Juventus have qualified for the Round of 16 in the group after each amassed 12 points from the first five games. The battle in the last round of games is to decide who wins the group when Chelsea travel to Zenith St. Petersburg and Juventus host Malmo.
Malmo and Zenith played out a one-all draw with the Russians needing a last minute penalty converted by Yaroslav Rakitskyi, which was their second on the night after Artem Dzyuba had missed the initial one despite going one man down minutes earlier when Dimitri Chistyakov was sent off. Malmo had taken the lead in the first half through Soren Rieks.
Zenith would require a draw in their last match against Chelsea to qualify for the Europa League should Malmo defeat Juventus in Italy, otherwise, Zenith finish third.
Comments