Champions League round-up: Lionel Messi steals show on 700th Barcelona appearance
Wednesday 27 November 2019 23:12, UK
Lionel Messi inspired Barcelona to a 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in his 700th appearance for the Catalan giants to ensure they finish top of Champions League Group F.
Group F
Luis Suarez and Messi scored within four minutes of each other in the first half to send Barcelona 2-0 up and Antoine Griezmann made it three midway through the second half.
Substitute Jadon Sancho pulled one back in style for Borussia Dortmund, who must now hope Barcelona take points from Inter Milan in the final game as they face Slavia Prague, with both sides on seven points.
Lautaro Martinez scored twice and Romelu Lukaku also found the net as Inter ran out 3-1 winners at Slavia to keep themselves in the hunt.
Group G
RB Leipzig dramatically qualified for the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in their history after battling from two goals down to draw 2-2 at home to Benfica.
Benfica were coasting through goals from Luis Pizzi and Carlos Vinicius before a pair of added-time goals from Emil Forsberg earned the Germans a 2-2 draw.
Artem Dzyuba and Magomed Ozdoev gave Zenit St Petersburg a 2-0 win over Lyon.
Zenit and Lyon are both tied on seven points, three clear of Benfica who sit at the bottom on the table.
Group E
Liverpool's Champions League progress will go down the final group match once again after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Napoli.
Last December, qualification was not secured until the last kick of the last game, also against the Serie A club, and while the stakes are not as high this time around - a draw will do away against RB Salzburg - the defending champions still have a job to do.
Defender Dejan Lovren's second-half header cancelled out a contentious opener from Dries Mertens and means only a win in Austria will guarantee they top Group E.
Jurgen Klopp's 100th European fixture as a manager was not the occasion he would have liked as Napoli, unbeaten in three of their four encounters against them over the last two seasons, made things difficult.
Salzburg kept their own qualification hopes on track with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Genk in Belgium.
Two goals in three minutes just before the break from Patson Daka and Takumi Minamino set them on their way before Hee-Chan Hwang effectively put the game to bed in the 69th minute.
Mbwana Samatta pulled one back for the hosts five minutes from time but Erling Braut Haaland restored the three-goal advantage late on.
Group H
Chelsea saw safe passage to the knockout stages slip agonisingly away as Daniel Wass' fluke stole Valencia a 2-2 draw in Group H at the Mestalla.
The Blues thought Christian Pulisic's nudged finish would sneak them into the European top tier's last 16 but, just when Chelsea started to home in on victory, up popped Wass.
Earlier, Mateo Kovacic fired his first Chelsea goal on his 71st Blues appearance, cancelling out Carlos Soler's opener.
Ajax top the group on 10 points, two points clear of Valencia and Chelsea, after a 2-0 win at Lille - who were already eliminated. Hakim Ziyech and Quincy Promes were on target for the Dutch side.
When is the last-16 draw?
The draw for the last 16 of the Champions League takes place on Monday, December 16 in Nyon, with proceedings set to start at 11am, UK time.
