Champions League roundup: Bayern end PSG’s 100% record but come second

  06 December 2017    Read: 1348
Champions League roundup: Bayern end PSG’s 100% record but come second
Bayern Munich ended Paris Saint-Germain’s 100% record in Group B but their 3-1 victory at the Allianz Arena was not enough to prevent the French club from finishing top, AzVision.az reports citing the Guardian.
With both teams already qualified for the knockout stages, two goals from Corentin Tolisso and another from Robert Lewandowski gave Bayern hope of pulling off the improbable win by a four-goal margin that would have resulted in them ousting PSG.

Yet the visitors, who had beaten Bayern 3-0 in Paris, always looked likely to avoid that once Kylian Mbappé scored just after half-time.

The German champions had started brightly, Lewandowski having time to turn and score in the eighth minute after being played onside by Dani Alves, before Tolisso headed home James Rodríguez’s cross in the 37th minute. With the home crowd sensing an extraordinary story, Mbappé ruined the script when heading in from Edinson Cavani’s neat chipped cross five minutes after the break.

Still, the French midfielder Tolisso kept the pressure on, finishing clinically in the 69th minute after David Alaba’s storming run and cross down the left flank.

While PSG and Bayern ended on 15 points each, Celtic took third place, guaranteeing Europa League football, despite losing 1-0 at home to Anderlecht.

Barcelona rounded off their qualifying campaign in group D by beating Sporting Lisbon 2-0 at the Camp Nou, with both goals coming in the second half.

With Lionel Messi left on the bench, Paco Alcacer gave Barcelona the lead in the 59th minute with a glancing header from a corner and the second goal came when their former defender Jeremy Mathieu slid Aleix Vidal’s low cross into his own net in stoppage time.

Barcelona had already secured their place in the last 16 as Group D winners before the game, while Sporting needed to win and for Juventus not to beat Olympiakos in order to reach the knockout stages for the first time in nine seasons.

Their hopes were quickly dashed when Juan Cuadrado put Juventus ahead in the 15th minute in Athens and Federico Bernardeschi made it 2-0 in the 90th, which meant Sporting dropped into the Europa League whatever happened at the Nou Camp.

While Chelea were being held at home by Atlético Madrid, Roma took top spot in Group C after defeating Qarabag 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico.

Diego Perotti’s header in the 53rd minute settled a tight encounter. The move was started and finished by Perotti, who drove forward and exchanged a couple of neat passes before the ball found its way to Edin Dzeko, whose shot was parried by the keeper into the path of the Argentinian, who headed in from close range.

Basel clinched second place in Group A with a 2-0 victory over Benfica in Lisbon, while Manchester United finished top after their 2-1 home win over CSKA Moscow. The Swiss club made an excellent start against the Portuguese champions when Mohamed Elyounoussi headed them into a fifth-minute lead from Michael Lang’s cross. They doubled their advantage 20 minutes into the second half when Dimitri Oberlin headed home from close range, condemning Benfica to a sixth successive defeat.

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