Champions League round-up: Real Madrid qualify with win over PSG
Tuesday 3 November 2015 22:41, UK
Real Madrid beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night to secure qualification to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.
Despite PSG enjoying the majority of the play during the first half, it was Madrid who took the lead with defender Nacho netting 10 minutes before the interval.
PSG came close to restoring parity through midfielder Adrien Rabiot, but his volley cannoned back off the post, while Angel Di Maria struck the crossbar late on for the visitors on his return to Madrid.
Madrid held onto claim a vital three points which sees them book their place in the last 16, as a result of Shakhtar Donetsk's 4-0 win over Malmo.
Donetsk kept their slim hopes of earning qualification to the knockout phase from Group A alive with that comprehensive victory over their Swedish counterparts at Arena Lviv.
Oleksandr Hladkyy set them on their way with his 29th-minute strike, before second-half goals from Darijo Srna, Eduardo and Alex Teixeira sealed victory.
Malmo were reduced to 10 men in the final minute of the match, with midfielder Kari Arnason seeing red.
In Group B, PSV Eindhoven claimed a 2-0 victory over Wolfsburg at the Philips Stadion thanks to second-half strikes form Jurgen Locadia and Luuk de Jong.
Benfica moved to the top of Group C with a 2-1 victory over Galatasaray at the Estadio da Luz. Jonas opened the scoring for the hosts early in the second half, but Lukas Podolski equalised shortly afterwards to cancel out their lead.
However, Luisao earned Benfica victory with less than 25 minutes remaining in the match to enhance his side's chances of reaching the knockout phase.
Benfica played out the final five minutes with 10 men after Nicolas Gaitan was shown his second yellow card.
Elsewhere in Group C, Atletico Madrid were left frustrated in Kazakhstan as they played out a goalless draw with Astana.
Atletico substitute Yannick Carrasco came closest to scoring in the last attack of the match, but a fine save from Astana goalkeeper Nenad Eric denied him a winning goal.
In Group D, Serie A champions Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw by Borussia Monchengladbach at Borussia-Park.
Fabian Johnson gave the hosts the lead midway through the first half, sweeping his low strike past Gianluigi Buffon.
Stephan Lichtsteiner earned Juventus a point with a superbly-taken volley a minute before the half-time interval.
Juventus midfielder Hernanes was sent off early in the second half, but Monchengladbach were unable to make their numerical advantage count.
