The UEFA Champions League group phase was a fantastic line-up of drama, goals and pivotal results as Europe’s elite football clubs, heading next week to the decisive last matchday, secured their positions for qualification.
It ended up being an almost perfect night for the big guns of the competition. Barcelona, who were very close to being shocked in Prague, still managed to beat Slavia 4–2 in an electrifying game, where the names of Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo flashed on the score sheet.
Bayern Munich similarly did well in a difficult home fixture, where Harry Kane netted a quick-fire second-half brace to secure the victory and the three points. Talking about Italy, Juventus, with their 2–0 win over Benfica, have quite literally rocketed themselves to the door of the next stage of the competition. The goals were scored by McKennie Weston and Thuram Khephre,n while for the Portuguese team, Vangelis Pavlidis wasted a penalty. The chances of Benfica making it through are now so slim that the whole process is barely hanging by a thread.
English clubs had a dazzling time on the other side of the continent. Liverpool were flawless away to Marseille, registering 3–0 with the help of a Dominik Szoboszlai goal, an own goal and a goal in the dying minutes from Cody Gakpo. Newcastle United easily dispatched PSV 3–0 to make a strong case for finishing among the top eight and thereby qualifying directly for the round of 16.
Meanwhile, Athletic Club accomplished an important win against Atalanta, and as for the earlier games in Istanbul, Galatasaray and Atletico Madrid played out a 1-1 draw. Qarabag, on the other hand, in the dying moments of the match, won 3–2 against Eintracht Frankfurt and thus, they continue to hold their very faint hopes of qualification.
With one more round of fixtures left, the battle for the last 16 is under pressure. The last matchday will have all the matches played simultaneously next Wednesday, and there will still be places in the last 16 and knockout playoffs to be won. The closer it gets to the end, the more the focus turns to the final matchday.
