Madness in the Champions League: The Portuguese top club SL Benfica has booked its ticket for the playoffs in a dramatic way – to the chagrin of Real Madrid.
The final day of the Champions League league phase couldn’t have been more bitter for Real Madrid. Due to the 2:4 (1:2) defeat at Benfica, the Royals slipped from third to ninth place in the premier class. Now Real has to serve detention in the playoffs. Sporting, the second Lisbon club, moved past Athletic Bilbao with a 3-2 (1-2) win.
Real star Kylian Mbappé scored twice (30th/58th) and surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo’s record from the 2015/16 season with his 13 goals in the preliminary round.
Raul Asencio (90.+2) and Rodrygo (90.+7) saw the yellow-red card before Benfica goalkeeper Anatoli Trubin headed in the final score (90.+8) and brought Benfica under star coach José Mourinho into the playoffs in 24th place at the last second. Curious: For a long time, the Benfica players were obviously not aware that a 3-2 win would not have been enough to advance. Only later in stoppage time did the coach send all his players forward. When Trubin headed into the net from a free kick, all barriers broke.
Barcelona turns the game around after being behind at halftime – Havertz excels
Nick Woltemade and Malick Thiaw also have to take the detour via the intermediate round with Newcastle United and Paris Saint-Germain. In the direct duel, the English and the defending champions split 1-1 (1-1) and both slipped out of the top eight. FC Barcelona and coach Hansi Flick won 5-1 (0-1) against FC Copenhagen after half-time and thus moved straight into the round of 16, as did Manchester City, which won 2-0 (2-0) against Galatasaray Istanbul with the German professionals Leroy Sané and Ilkay Gündogan.
Led by an outstanding Kai Havertz, Arsenal FC also won the eighth game in the Champions League league phase and underlined their title ambitions. In his starting eleven comeback after 357 days, the German national player contributed a goal and two assists to the 3:2 (2:1) against bottom team Qairat Almaty from Kazakhstan.
Wirtz scores in Liverpool’s thrashing win – Naples eliminated
His DFB colleague Florian Wirtz was also able to celebrate on the last day of the main round. Wirtz (21st) scored his first premier class goal for the Reds in his FC Liverpool’s confident 6-0 (2-0) win against Qarabag Agdam, who climbed to third place with 18 points behind the unbeaten Gunners (24 points) and Bayern Munich (21).
The English champions, for whom Wirtz scored Alexis Mac Allister (15th/61st), Mohamed Salah with a fantastic free kick (50th), Hugo Ekitiké (57th) and Federico Chiesa (90th), like Tottenham Hotspur in fourth place, have home rights up to a possible quarter-final in the second leg, Arsenal and Bayern even up to the semi-finals.
The Italian champions SSC Napoli are no longer able to continue in the Champions League. After the 2-3 home game against Chelsea, the Sky Blues ended the league phase in a disappointing 30th place.
The play-off games will be drawn in Nyon on Friday (12 p.m.). During the draw, pairs are formed based on the final position in the league phase. For example, the teams placed 9th and 10th will face the teams placed 23rd and 24th. The intermediate round will take place on the 17th/18th. and 24/25. February. The round of 16 will be drawn on February 27th and will follow in mid-March, then the top eight will take part again. The final will be played in Budapest on May 30th.
