Bayern Maintain 100% win record, Barca’s win not enough, Atleti exposed and Tottenham’s last-minute winner secures qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Matchday 6 of 6 in the UEFA Champions League produced shocking results as Barcelona failed to qualify for the knockout stages for a second straight season.
Bayern Munich replicated their 100% win record as last season, while Club Brugge finished second in a group many saw them as minnows.
Barca Out
Barca Manager Xavi lamented on his side’s lack of ‘maturity’ noting, “We lack maturity. We have a lot of youngsters and we’ve had the worst Champions League group in years. We’ve had injuries. They’re not excuses, but that has hurt us. With respect to last season, we have a better squad and we have given a better image in Europe. But we haven’t been up to the task.”
Having spent over €150m this summer, Barca have won only two and lost three of their six Group C games. Barcelona rested a number of key starters including Lewandowski. Ferran Torres scores in each half to see Barcelona to a 4-2 win against Czech side Viktoria Plzen.
Barcelona must now compete in a playoff to advance to the round of 16 of the Europa League, where the Catalan team will be matched up against the teams that placed second in the group stage. Due to UEFA rules, they are ineligible to play against other Spanish teams.
Flawless Bayern
Bayern Munich beat Iner Milan 2-0 at home courtesy of goals by Benjamin Pavard and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
Despite the loss, Inter Milan still finished second in Group C, qualifyng for the knockout stages.
Tottenham Late Goal Secures Top Spot
Tottenham Hotspurs found themselves in a very tricky situation on matcday 6. All four teams in Group D had the opportunity to qualify for the knockout stages. Tottenham, Frankfurt, Marseille and Sporting CP were all in contention to qualify on the final group matchday.
Tottenham won 2-1 against Marseille after Pierre-Emile Højbjerg scored with the last kick of the game to clinch top spot in the group.
Eintracht Frankfurt pulled out a second half comeback in Portugal against Sporting scoring twice in 10 minutes to win 2-1 and finish second in the group. Following the loss, Sporting CP have been relegated to the Europa League.
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Atleti Exposed
Spanish side Atletico Madrid have had a really poor run in this seasons campaign in the Champions League. The two previous occasions Atletico were eliminated in the group stage, in 2009/10 and 2017/18, they went on to win the Europa League. This time it all went down for Atleti that they didn’t even qualify for the Europa League, finishing bottom of the group.
Speaking to Movistar, Atleti striker Antoinne Griezmann expressed his disappointment, “We don’t deserve to go through to the knockout stages of the Champions League or the Europa League, that’s the way it is. If you can only win one game in the group stage, that’s what you have to do, now you have to squeeze your a**, work, shut your mouth and fight.”
FC Porto won 2-1 on the night to clinch the top spot in the group.
Today’s Fixtures
Real Madrid vs Celtic
Shakhtar vs Leipzig
Chelsea vs Dinamo Zagreb
AC Milan vs Salzburg
Man City vs Sevilla
Copenhagen vs Dortmund
Juventus vs Paris Saint-Germain
Maccabi Haifa vs Benfica
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