UEFA Champions League Round-Up: Bayern Munich, Manchester City record wins, Real Madrid, PSG, Manchester United draw
Alvaro Negredo scored a hat-trick in Manchester City’s 5-2 win
GROUP A
There were two draws in Group A last night. Shakhtar Donetsk and Bayer Leverkusen failed to break the deadlock as did Real Sociedad and Manchester United.
Robin van Persie had a penalty saved and Marouane Fellaini was handed a red card in the closing moments of the game. A win would’ve put David Moyes’ side on the brink of qualification for the knock-out phase. Bayer Leverkusen are a point behind Manchester United and their progress depends entirely on the points they pick up against United and Sociedad.
GROUP B
In Group B, Real Madrid drew 2-2 with Juventus. Gareth Bale scored his first Champions League goal and Cristiano Ronaldo scored his eighth goal in this year’s group matches equals a record for this stage of the competition jointly held by Ruud van Nistelrooy, Filippo Inzaghi and Hernan Crespo. Arturo Vidal and Fernando Llorente scored for Juventus.
The Italian giants now need to win both their remaining matches to ensure qualification after a slow start to their campaign in Group B. Real Madrid on the other hand, need just a point their final two group games to be sure of a place in the last 16.
FC Copenhagen earned their first victory of this season’s Champions League group stages after Daniel Braaten’s clever early finish saw them defeat Galatasaray 1-0. Copenhagen and Galatasaray would need to both beat Juventus and overturn Real by huge margins to make it to the next stage. And if Juventus lose to Copenhagen, they would be eliminated from the competition.
GROUP C
Zlatan Ibrahimovic salvaged a draw for Paris St-Germain in Group C against Anderlecht in the 70th minute after Demy de Zeeuw gave the visitors the lead minutes before. PSG will qualify if they beat Olympiakos in their next game on 27 November. Anderlecht need to beat Benfica and Olympiakos and hope PSG beat Olympiakos and get at least a draw against Benfica.
Group C also saw Olympiakos defeat Benfica 1-0 with an early goal from Kostas Manolas. Olympiakos are currently second on the table with seven points from four games and need to win against PSG to ensure qualification into the next round.
GROUP D
Bayern Munich and Manchester City were the first two teams to book their place in the knockout stage of the Champions League.
Bayern Munich continued to remain on the top of Group D with a 1-0 win over Viktoria Plzen. Super sub, Mario Mandzukic headed in a goal in the 65th minute, giving Bayern four out of four wins in the group stage. Bayern have now equalled Barcelona’s Champions League record of nine straight wins.
In the same group, Manchester City defeated CSKA Moscow 5-2 to cruise into the Champions League knock-out stages for the first time. Two goals from Sergio Aguero and a hat-trick for Alvaro Negredo leaves them on nine points, six ahead of the Russian champions.