Home ›› 04 Nov 2022 ›› Sport
Nuno Mendes scored the winning goal within moments of coming on as a second-half substitute as Paris Saint-Germain beat Juventus 2-1 in Turin on Wednesday but the French side missed out on top spot in Champions League Group H in dramatic fashion to a rampant Benfica.
PSG and Benfica were both through to the last 16 before their final group games and sat level on points having drawn both of their meetings 1-1.
However, the Parisians’ goal difference was superior by four, meaning victory in Italy against an already-eliminated Juventus looked set to be enough to secure a theoretically easier tie in next Monday’s last-16 draw.
Mendes duly netted the decisive goal midway through the second half after Kylian Mbappe’s stunning opener had been cancelled out by Leonardo Bonucci.
Yet the biggest drama was unfolding in Israel, where Benfica scored five second-half goals to beat Maccabi Haifa 6-1.
“We have qualified, and we did the job to finish first. It wasn’t to be but that’s football,” Mbappe told broadcaster Canal Plus.
“The last 16 is not for a long time and lots of things can happen between now and then.”
Five-star Real Madrid
European champions Real Madrid made light work of Celtic with a 5-1 win to progress to the Champions League last 16 as Group F winners on Wednesday.
Madrid quickly assumed a dominant lead with Luka Modric and Rodrygo netting first-half penalties, both given for handballs, while Josip Juranovic missed one for the bottom-of-the-group Scots.
Marco Asensio netted the third early in the second half on what proved a stroll for the record 14-time winners, Vinicius Junior turned home the fourth from Fede Valverde’s cross and the Uruguayan smashed in a fifth himself.
The comprehensive victory over Ange Postecoglou’s side, who pulled one back with an impressive Jota free-kick, left them a point above second-place Leipzig, with the German side beating Shakhtar Donetsk 4-0.
Celtic offered Madrid not one, but two, helping hands, and they were grateful to get back to winning ways after suffering their first defeat of the season in all competitions against Leipzig last week, and then drawing with Girona in La Liga.
“A game like this with a lot of goals, getting back to winning ways, that was the most important thing, to finish top of the group. It was a great day,” Rodrygo told Movistar. “(The knock-outs) will be hard again, it will be difficult, there are no easy teams left, they can all make life hard for us, whoever we get.”
