PARIS: England has become the first country to have five
teams in the knockout stage of the Champions League after Liverpool
completed a sweep for Premier League clubs with a 7-0 thrashing of
Spartak Moscow on Wednesday.
Liverpool, who have won
Europe’s top competition five times, clinched Group ‘E’ after Philippe
Coutinho secured his first hat-trick for the club and were joined in the
last 16 by former champions FC Porto, Sevilla and Shakhtar Donetsk.
That
quartet completed the line-up on the final night of group-stage action
that was also notable for another Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals record in
the competition.
The Portuguese superstar scored his
ninth in the competition this season in reigning champions Real Madrid’s
3-2 win at home to Borussia Dortmund.
In doing so, he
became the first player to score in all six Champions League group-stage
matches in a season while also equalling his Barcelona rival Lionel
Messi’s record of 60 group-stage goals in total.
Liverpool
were one of four English teams to top a group, along with Manchester
City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Chelsea completed the
sweep, signaling a revival by English clubs after years of
underachievement since the west London club were European champions in
2012.
Needing only a draw to qualify, it was all too
easy for Liverpool at Anfield, where Coutinho led Liverpool’s
dismantling of Spartak with two goals in the opening 15 minutes before
completing his first hat-trick for the Reds in the 50th.
Sadio
Mane scored twice and there was one each for Roberto Firmino and
Mohamed Salah as Liverpool’s ‘Fab Four’ ran riot and they topped their
group by three points from second-placed Sevilla. Spartak finished in
third place and dropped into the Europa League.
“Nobody
could imagine that it would go like this tonight. It was an all or
nothing game for both teams,” said Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp after
guiding the Reds into the last 16 for the first time in nine years.
“We opened the game perfectly and after we took the lead we didn’t have to defend. It was a nice night at Anfield.”
Spartak’s defeat meant Sevilla were through regardless of their 1-1 draw with Maribor in Slovenia.
In
freezing temperatures, Maribor captain Marcos Tavares scored the opener
with Paulo Henrique Ganso coming off the bench to equalise for the
Spaniards.
Ukrainian giants Shakhtar are through to the
last 16 in Group ‘F’ at the expense of Napoli after beating Pep
Guardiola’s Manchester City 2-1 in Kharkiv, ending the English club’s
unbeaten record in all competitions this season.
Already
guaranteed first place, City were caught on the break and failed to
become only the seventh club in Champions League history to win every
game in the group stage.
“The game didn’t go as we
expected, in the first half they were better than us and it was a
deserved win for them,” City midfielder Bernardo Silva said. “In the
second half we tried to come back, had our chances, but we are not
happy. Even though we had already qualified, we wanted the three
points.”
Shakhtar, which finished runner-up, took the lead in the
26th minute when Bernard cut in from the left side of the box and curled
a shot inside the far post, beyond the reach of goalkeeper Ederson.
Eight
minutes later, Ismaily sprinted to beat Ederson to the ball before
rounding the keeper and stroking a shot into the unguarded net. City’s
consolation goal came in added time when Sergio Aguero converted a
penalty.
It was City’s first competitive loss since being beaten by Arsenal in an FA Cup semi-final in April.
NAPOLI OUT
In
the group’s other game, Feyenoord rallied from a goal down to beat
Napoli, who failed to join Serie A rivals Juventus and AS Roma in the
knockout stage. Napoli ended third and headed to the Europa League.
Napoli
had gone in front early on away to already-eliminated Feyenoord through
Piotr Zielinski, but Nicolai Jorgensen equalised. Jeremiah St Juste
then made it 2-1 at the death for the Dutch champions after they had
Tonny Vilhena sent off.
“Now we want to go as far as possible in the Europa League,” Napoli captain Marek Hamsik told Mediaset Premium.
Porto
also knew a win would take them through in Group ‘G’ and the two-time
European champions ran riot against a hapless Monaco, hammering last
season’s semi-finalists 5-2.
Vincent Aboubakar scored twice for the Portuguese club, with Yacine Brahimi, Alex Telles and Francisco Soares also netting.
Monaco
replied through a Kamil Glik effort and a Radamel Falcao header against
his old club, while Porto’s Felipe and Rachid Ghezzal for the visitors
were sent off after an altercation in the first half.
Monaco
reached the semi-finals of the competition last season by playing some
scintillating attacking football. But it has been a very different story
this season for the French champions and coach Leonardo Jardim’s side
were already guaranteed to finish last.
“It’s sad not to
be continuing in the Champions League but that’s football. Now we have
to focus on the league and the two domestic cups,” Falcao said. “Our
team changed a lot in the summer and we need time to get stronger.”
RB Leipzig were forced to settle for a Europa League spot in their debut European campaign.
They
lost 2-1 at home to group winners Besiktas, for whom Talisca scored a
last-minute winner after Naby Keita had cancelled out Alvaro Negredo’s
early penalty opener. Leipzig had Stefan Ilsanker sent off.
Real Madrid were already through before beating Dortmund in a Bernabeu thriller in Group ‘H’.
Borja Mayoral put the holders in front and Ronaldo’s stunning, record-setting strike came after just 12 minutes.
Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang scored a brace to haul Dortmund level, but Lucas Vazquez
won it for the hosts as the Germans drop into the Europa League.
“The Champions League is a competition that I love to play and score in, as you can see,” Ronaldo told UEFA.com.
Group
‘H’ winners Tottenham eased to a 3-0 win at home to APOEL, with
Fernando Llorente, Son Heung-min and Georges-Kevin N’Koudou scoring at
Wembley.
