Wednesday evening saw the end of the UEFA Champions League E-H group meetings and revealed the teams advancing to the knockout stage.
In Group E, the intrigue was greatest - although Munich's Bayern had already secured the top spot in the group, the other three teams, Manchester City, Roma, and Moscow's CSKA, had an equal number of points. The English champions needed a win and a Russian loss, while the Italian team would have been enough to play to a draw. CSKA's chances were slightly lower, as today the Moscow team faced one of the strongest teams in Europe away.
Success smiled on the Englishmen. Thanks to Samir Nasri's goal and assist to Pablo Zabaleta, the "Citizens" managed to take three points from Italy. In addition, Munich's Bayern crushed the Moscow team with a score of 3-0, and it became clear that Manuel Pellegrini's team, although very hard, managed to make it to the quarterfinals.
In Group F, the teams competing for the strongest European tournament cup had already been clear earlier. However, there was still a battle going on for the first and third place. The strongest team in the group can expect a relatively weaker opponent in the quarterfinals, while the penultimate position gives an opportunity to compete in the UEFA Europa League knockout stage.
In the leaders' duel at Camp Nou Stadium, Barcelona defeated Paris Saint-Germain. Although PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored first, just four minutes later Lionel Messi leveled the score, and later Neymar and Luis Suarez added goals. Meanwhile, in the Europa League fight, Ajax had no trouble with Nicosia's APOEL and defeated the Cypriot team 4-0.
Group G has some similarities to Group E. After five rounds, the team occupying the first place was already clear, that being London's Chelsea. However, both Sporting Lisbon and Schalke had a chance to take second place. The Portuguese champions had one point more than the Germans, but in the last round, they had to travel to the English capital.
Unfortunately for Sporting's players, they failed to take any points, and Schalke also defeated Maribor with a goal from Max Meyer, also winning with a minimal result as a visiting team. Thus, after playing all the matches, it is the German team that advances to the quarterfinals, while the representatives of Lisbon continue their battles in the Europa League.
The situation in Group H was not very tense. Like Group F, there were clear teams advancing, but, unlike Group E, Porto's players were already calm about the first position. The second place was taken by Donetsk's Shakhtar. Both teams faced each other, and the match in Portugal ended in a 1-1 draw.
In Spain, Athletic Bilbao's loss would have given a place in the Europa League to BATE Borisov players, but the Basques managed to deal with the Belarusian team in the second half and celebrated a 2-0 victory.
Results:
"Bayern" 3 - 0 "CSKA" [1-0] 18' Thomas Muller (penalty) [2-0] 84' Sebastian Rode [3-0] 90' Mario Gotze
"Roma" 0 - 2 "Manchester City" [0-1] 60' Samir Nasri [0-2] 86' Pablo Zabaleta
"Ajax" 4 - 0 "APOEL" [1-0] 45' Lasse Schoene (penalty) [2-0] 50' Lasse Schoene [3-0] 53' Davy Klaassen [4-0] 74' Arkadiusz Milik
"Barcelona" 3 - 1 "Paris Saint-Germain" [0-1] 15' Zlatan Ibrahimovic [1-1] 19' Lionel Messi [2-1] 42' Neymar [3-1] 77' Luis Suarez
"Chelsea" 3 - 1 "Sporting" [1-0] 8' Cesc Fabregas (penalty) [2-0] 16' Andre Schurrle [2-1] 50' Jonathan Cristian Silva [3-1] 56' John Obi Mikel
"Maribor" 0 - 1 "Schalke" [0-1] 62' Max Meyer
"Athletic" 2 - 0 "BATE" [1-0] 47' Mikel San Jose [2-0] 88' Markel Susaeta Laskurain
"Porto" 1 - 1 "Shakhtar" [0-1] 50' Taras Stepanenko [1-1] 87' Vincent Aboubakar
