Manchester United reached the Champions League last-16 as Group A winners after coming from behind to beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 at home and finish ahead of Basel who also went through with a 2-0 win at Benfica on Tuesday.
United fell behind to a freakish Vitinho goal on the stroke of halftime before Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford struck within a minute to turn the match on its head.
Rashford hit the post in the fourth minute and saw a shot from a tight angle saved by CSKA’s busy keeper Igor Akinfeev.
CSKA struck out of the blue as Mario Fernandes broke down the right and set up Vitinho, whose miscued shot struck Dzagoev in the back and bounced into the net.
Lukaku used his physical strength to steer in the equaliser in the 64th minute. Rashford got his reward for tireless work less than a minute later, drilling in a sublime Juan Mata chip with a fierce left-footed shot from 13 metres which gave Akinfeev no chance.
Barca breezes through
Barcelona scored twice in the second half to beat Sporting Lisbon 2-0 at home on Tuesday, rounding off their unbeaten group stage campaign with a fourth win, while knocking the Portuguese side out of the competition.
With Lionel Messi left on the bench, Paco Alcacer gave Barca the lead in the 59th minute with a glancing header from a corner while former Barca defender Jeremy Mathieu clumsily slid Aleix Vidal’s low cross into his own net in stoppage time.
Juan Cuadrado put Juventus ahead in the 15th minute in Athens and Federico Bernardeschi made it 2-0 in the 90th to ensure Sporting dropped into the Europa League whatever happened at the Nou Camp.
Barca had already secured their place in the last 16 of the competition as Group D winners before the game, while Sporting needed to win and for Juventus not to beat Olympiakos in order to reach the knockouts for the first time in nine seasons.
Juve beat Olympiakos
Juventus claimed a place in the last 16 as Juan Cuadrado and Federico Bernardeschi secured a 2-0 win at Greek side Olympiakos Piraeus and second place in Group D.
The Serie A side, runners-up in last year’s competition, needed a win to ensure progression to the knockout round was not threatened by Sporting who were in action at Barcelona.
The result, coupled with Barca’s 2-0 win over Sporting, meant Massimiliano Allegri’s Juve side finished as group runners-up, three points behind the Spaniards.
Juventus took the lead after 15 minutes with Cuadrado set up by an Alex Sandro cross for an easy tap-in to score his first Champions League goal this season.
Chelsea surrender top spot
Meanwhile, Chelsea drew 1-1 against Spain’s Atletico Madrid, relinquishing their lead on the Champion's League Group C.
Chelsea had already secured their place in the knockout phase. They finished second in the group behind Italy’s AS Roma, while Atletico will drop into the Europa League after finishing third.
“Football is about finishing at the end of the day and it’s clear we’ve not done that in the Champions League this year and we have paid the price,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. “It’s not good to be out of the Champions League but there is still a long season ahead and we will be assessed at the end of it.
Atletico took the lead in the 56th minute when Saul Niguez headed in at the far post after flick on by former Chelsea striker Fernando Torres following a corner.
Atletico defender Stefan Savic turned an Eden Hazard cross into his own net at the 75th minute, setting up a climactic end to the game as both sides pushed for a winning goal.
Bayern and PSG's high quality contest
Bayern Munich ruined Paris St Germain’s perfect Champions League record this season with a 3-1 victory at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday but their rousing win could not stop the French side advancing as Group B winners.
With both teams already qualified for the knockout stages, Corentin Tolisso’s double and another goal from Robert Lewandowski gave Bayern hope of pulling off the improbable win by a four-goal margin that would see them top the group.
Yet PSG, who had thumped Bayern 3-0 in Paris, always looked likely to avoid that indignity in a high-quality contest once Kylian Mbappe scored just after halftime when they were 2-0 down.
The top-of-the-table clash proved far from a ‘dead rubber’ with both sides determined to demonstrate the qualities that make them among the favourites to lift the title this season.
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, whose second-half winner came from a Jozo Simunovic own goal.
