The final round of Matchday 6 games were completed on Wednesday as the final four groups (E to H) and teams to qualify for the round of 16 were confirmed except for one.
The final group F game between Atalanta and Villarreal was postponed on Wednesday due to adverse weather conditions and was played on Thursday night as the Submarines came out on top.
This was how the final four groups ended up, with the third teams dropping to the Europa League.
Group E
Bayern Munich
Benfica
Barcelona
Group F
Manchester United
Villarreal
Atalanta
Group G
OSC Lille
RB Salzburg
Sevilla
Group H
Juventus
Chelsea
Zenit St. Petersburg
Group E
This group perhaps provided the biggest shock of the round that saw Barcelona drop to the Europa League after they lost their last group game, which was a must win against Bayern Munich.
The Catalunya couldn't better Benfica's result as goals from Thomas Muller, Leroy Sane and Jamal Musiala condemned them to the Europa League as Benfica, who finished second also defeated Dynamo Kyiv with goals from Roman Yaremchuk and Gilberto Moraes.
Group F
Manchester United couldn't exert revenge on Young Boys, who defeated them 2-1 in the reverse fixture as they drew 1-1 on the final group game at Old Trafford with a much changed side from Ralf Ragnick as they had already won the group.
Villarreal were inspired by Arnaut Danjuma's brace as they went away to defeat Atalanta 2-3 with the winner taking all and finishing second behind Manchester United. Atalanta will now play in the Europa League
Group G
This was the only group that didn't produce a qualifier until the last day as all four teams were eligible to qualify as long as they got favorable results.
Lille took the most advantage as they went away to Germany to defeat Wolfsburg, racing to a three goal lead with goals from Burak Yilmaz, Jonathan David and Angel Gomes, before Renato Steffen got a consolation for the hosts late on.
Sevilla were unlucky as they went down 1-0 at Salzburg with the only goal of the game coming from Noah Okafor, who was assisted by Karim Adeyemi. The Seville side were however, still continue in Europe, but in the Europa League following Wolfsburg's loss.
Group H
Another interesting group that saw the winner of the group decided on the last day and in fact, in the last minutes of the games despite the fact that Chelsea and Juventus had both qualified for the knockout stage.
Juventus pipped Malmo with a Moise Kean lone strike and had to wait till the final minute of the game between Zenit St. Petersburg and Chelsea to confirm their winning the group as substitute Magodem Ozdoyev scored a screamer of a strike in the dying minutes to force a 3-3 draw against Chelsea that led the defending champions to finishing second in the group, with the Russians themselves dropping to the Europa League.
The draws for the round of 16 will hold Monday, 12th December 2021.
Comments