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Champions League 2024/25: Manchester City and Juventus survive, PSV end Liverpool’s winning run

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Champions League 2024/25: Manchester City and Juventus survive, PSV end Liverpool’s winning run
Champions League 2024/25: Manchester City and Juventus survive, PSV end Liverpool’s winning run

New Delhi: What a fantastic night of European football that was, where must win situations boiled and others who had comfort managed to move past a hectic league schedule. The final matchday of the league phase of Champions League produced some of the top results with some of the games featuring absolute goalfests. While other big teams managed to survive an early elimination, others progressed through with ease.

LOSC Lille managed to put six past Feyenoord while a Morgan Rogers hat-trick sealed the deal for Aston Villa against Celtic. Bayern Munich cruised past Slova Bratislava 3-1, while Sporting managed to draw with Bologna. However, AC Milan suffered a shocking loss against Dinamo Zagreb while Borussia Dortmund came back to winning ways against Shakhtar. Leverkusen and Atletico were both victorious to achievedirect qualifications tonight.

VfB Stuttgart 1-4 Paris Saint-Germain

In a devastating conclusion to their Champions League season, Stuttgart are ousted while PSG easily advances to the playoffs. PSG played as though they had no intention of settling for a point tonight, even though they knew they only needed one to advance. They took the lead right away and opened the scoring with Barcola in just six minutes. Dembele then scored two goals in short succession to end the game in the first thirty-five minutes. After a beautiful one-two with Hakimi in the second half, Dembele scored another incredible goal to complete his hat-trick. Stuttgart’s offensive was much more aggressive in the second half, but they lacked conviction in the final third.

Even though Fuhrich gave them a late consolation goal, it was too little, too late, and PSG never appeared to be in danger for the entire match. At the end of the match, PSG had 13 shots on goal compared to 10 for Stuttgart. During the game, Stuttgart made 63 final third entries compared to PSG’s 41. Stuttgart suffered their largest-ever Champions League home loss as a result of PSG’s dominance today, giving up four goals for the first time in the competition. Stuttgart finished in 26th place, just a few spots below the final qualifying berth, while PSG finished the Champions League group stage in 15th place and went into the playoffs with a lot of confidence.

PSV Eindhoven 3-2 Liverpool

Liverpool finished the league phase at the top of the rankings despite losing to Eindhoven for the first time in this year’s Champions League! The match went back and forth after a thrilling first half in which five goals were scored, but the Eredivisie leaders win and secure their spot in the playoffs. Liverpool had taken the lead thanks to a penalty kick from Gakpo, but Saibari leveled the score. Harvey Elliott gave the Reds their lead back before Bakayoko and Pepi’s quick goals clinched the victory. After Nallo received a straight red card on his full debut, Liverpool ended the match with one less player.

Liverpool, who top the league will ofcourse get the direct qualification as PSV, who end the league phase at a strong 14th position will be battling it out in the play-offs. PSV might get tied with either Feyenoord or Juventus considering the positions they have managed.

Juventus 0-2 Benfica

Benfica defeats Juventus 2-0 to guarantee a spot in the Champions League playoffs! Lage’s team knew going into this game that they would win, and they did so without much of a fight. They had a strong start, and 16 minutes in, when Perin had hurried off his line, Pavlidis took his chance and slotted coolly into an empty net. They again had the opportunity to double their lead on the half-kime stroke, but Perin heroically threw himself in front of Pavlidis’ attempt following a Gatti error. In the second half, Juventus applied more pressure, and Trubin had to make some easy stops.

Kokcu secured the three points by putting a low drive into the bottom-left corner from the edge of the box, but Juventus failed to create a breakthrough and were caught on the break in the 80th minute. Benfica will find out in Friday’s draw whether they will play Monaco or Brest in the playoffs after finishing the league phase in 16th place. Milan or PSV will be Juventus’ next opponents in the competition as they dropped to 20th place.

Brest 0-3 Real Madrid

Real Madrid easily defeats Brest 3-0 at the Stade du Roudourou, earning three points in the process. As a consequence, Madrid finishes the league phase in 11th place, securing a seeded playoff spot, while Brest finishes 18th, just missing out on a seeded spot due to goal differential. Pereira Lage forced Courtois to make a save on a free-kick in the fifth minute, giving the home team a strong start to the game. As Madrid increased the pressure, Bizot was called into action several times and made some vital stops. With a beautiful solo run and finish past the Brest defense in the 27th minute, Rodrygo broke the tie.

Early in the second half, Ajorque and Camara skillfully collaborated to give Brest an equalizer, but a VAR check disallowed the goal for offside. Bellingham completed Vazquez’s ball into an open net to increase Madrid’s lead, and Rodrygo added more gloss by scoring the rebound after Bizot had saved Mbappe’s effort. Courtois had to make five stops during the game as the home team persisted in their offensive, but the game stalled out halfway through the second half, sealing their doom. Finishing higher in the table than teams like Manchester City, Juventus, and Sporting is no small accomplishment for Eric Roy’s team, and their Champions League run is far from over. In Friday’s draw, both teams will learn who they will face in the following round.

Barcelona 2-2 Atalanta

After an exciting match, Barcelona and Atalanta share the points in their last Champions League group stage match. Just after halftime, Yamal grabbed a wonderful pass from Raphinha, rounded the goalie, and slotted home to give Barcelona the lead. Barcelona produced 2.15 anticipated goals throughout. Ederson’s long-range effort into the bottom corner later in the game gave Atalanta the equalizer. Barcelona took the lead again quickly as Raphina’s cross was headed home by Araujo, making it 2-1.

Pasalic jumped inside the box to strike under Szczesny and give the Italians an equalizer, but the Spanish team’s lead was short-lived. Barcelona finish in second place and Atalanta in ninth place after the match ended in a 2-2 draw. Barcelona advances automatically to the round of 16, but Gasperini’s team must undergo a play-off match to get there.

Manchester City 3-1 Club Brugge

After a strong comeback in the second half, Manchester City secure their spot in the Champions League play-off round as the final whistle blows at the Etihad Stadium. It was far from Manchester City’s best performance and the Belgians produced a major scare when Raphael Onyedika put Brugge ahead shortly before the half ended, shocking the Premier League winners. However, City came back after the interval with goals from Mateo Kovacic, an own goal, and Savinho.

Pep Guardiola’s blushes and a possible elimination from Europe’s top competition were saved by the triumph, as the Citizens learned their play-off opponents in Friday’s draw. The same goes for Brugge, who despite the loss, just made it into play-offs finishing 24th in the table.

Inter 3-0 AS Monaco

Inter easily defeats Monaco 3-0 to advance to the round of 16 of the Champions League! Martinez spearheaded the Nerazzurri attack, as is so frequently the case, and tied Sandro Mazzola as their all-time joint-leading goalscorer in the Champions League/European Cup with a hat-trick. Mawissa denied Thuram a clear goal-scoring opportunity, and between his two strikes in the first half, Monaco was down to 10 men. Hutter’s team was unable to rally in the second half. After they had used up all of their substitutes, Teze was taken off on a stretcher, and Monaco lost another player when Martinez jumped on a rebound to make it 3-0.

The Ligue 1 side will face either PSG or Benfica in the playoffs after finishing 17th in the rankings. Inter will bypass that stage, and they might have to contend with an exciting draw when they return for the round of 16 in March. PSV, Feyenoord, and Serie A rivals Juventus and Milan are their four possible opponents!

Other results from tonight’s fixtures

Aston Villa 4-2 Celtic 

Bayern Munich 3-1 Slovan Bratislava

Atlético Madrid 4–1 Red Bull Salzburg

Girona 1–2 Arsenal

Sporting CP 1-1 Bologna

Sturm Graz 1-0 RB Leipzig

Young Boys 0-1 FK Crvena Zvezda

LOSC Lille 6-1 Feyenoord

Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Shakhtar Donetsk

Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 Sparta Praha

Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 AC Milan

 It was an exciting end to the league phases of the Champions League 2024/25, where there were somebig guns fighting for survival, while some underdogs managed to get the job done and progress through directly. Here’s a look at how things went tonight.  Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today

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