PARIS – Manchester United and Juventus were among the sides to clinch a place in the last-16 of the Champions League on Tuesday, while Bayern Munich gained a measure of revenge over Paris Saint-Germain.
United, Juventus, Roma and Basel all went through with victories in their final group games, but Atletico Madrid, beaten finalists in 2014 and 2016, were eliminated.
Jose Mourinho’s United side came from behind to beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 at Old Trafford as they reach the knockout rounds for the first time since 2013-14.
Only a heavy defeat could have eliminated United in Group A, but Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford scored two minutes apart in the second half to seal victory at Old Trafford, where they are unbeaten in 40 games in all competitions now.
CSKA had taken the lead with a contentious goal on the stroke of halftime, a shot from the Brazilian Vitinho going in off the back of Alan Dzagoev.
At first glance Dzagoev appeared offside, but replays showed he had been played on by Daley Blind, who had just slid off the pitch. The goal was credited to Vitinho.
“I’m really happy because we don’t want to qualify with a
defeat, we don’t want to qualify with a bad performance,” said Mourinho.
“So, the objective was to qualify playing well and try to
get a positive result. I think we did that very, very well.”
Group winners topped off with another goal 💥 onto the next round pic.twitter.com/aln4TYsfLN
— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) December 5, 2017
CSKA drop into the Europa League, while Basel reached the last-16 for the third time this decade, the Swiss champions beating Benfica 2-0 in Lisbon with goals from Mohamed Elyounoussi and Dimitri Oberlin.
Last season’s beaten finalists Juventus progressed from Group D thanks to their 2-0 win away to Olympiakos in Greece, Juan Cuadrado opening the scoring early on before Federico Bernardeschi completed the victory late on.
The Italian champions go through behind Barcelona, who rounded off their group phase by easing to a 2-0 win at home against Sporting Lisbon.
Lionel Messi was left on the bench at a sparsely populated Camp Nou as Paco Alcacer headed the hosts in front on the hour, and Jeremy Mathieu then scored a late own goal against his old side. Sporting drop into the Europa League.
Roma knew they would go through from Group C with a win, which they got, although they could only edge out Qarabag of Azerbaijan 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico with a Diego Perotti effort early in the second half.
That turned out to be enough for Roma to win the section ahead of Chelsea, who had to come from behind to draw 1-1 at home to Atletico.
Saul Niguez headed Atletico in front on 56 minutes at Stamford Bridge, but Eden Hazard’s ball across goal was turned into his own net by Stefan Savic to restore parity.
Thank you for your support tonight. 👏 #CHEATL pic.twitter.com/BpPb0ogpor
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 5, 2017
Diego Simeone’s Atletico, who have only been knocked out by Real Madrid in each of the last four years, reaching at least the quarter-finals every time, must now accept a spot in the Europa League. They won that trophy in 2010 and 2012.
Bayern and PSG had already secured qualification from Group B, but met at the Allianz Arena with first place still up for grabs.
Having lost 3-0 in Paris in September, Bayern needed to win by four goals to leapfrog Neymar and co.
They gave themselves a chance, with Robert Lewandowski and Corentin Tolisso both heading home in the first half.
Kylian Mbappé got one back just after the break, leaving Bayern with too much to do, although Tolisso did score again to make it 3-1.
👏 BAYERN! 👏 #FCBPSG #UCL #MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/vdeOtytdXX
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) December 5, 2017
PSG will be the happier side at winning the group, although possible last-16 opponents for them are Chelsea, Juventus and Real Madrid.
Celtic, who lost 7-1 at PSG last time out, lost 1-0 at home to Anderlecht after Jozo Simunovic put through his own net in the second half.
Despite a fifth loss in six group games, they limp into the Europa League in the new year.
Liverpool are among the sides hoping to secure a place in the last-16 on Wednesday, with more four more berths still up for grabs for next Monday’s draw.