Sweet revenge for Guardiola’s City
Ilkay Gundogan scored either side of Kevin De Bruyne's curling free kick to help Manchester City come from behind to beat Barcelona 3-1 in the Champions League, as Pep Guardiola got the better of his old club yesterday.
Lionel Messi's 90th goal in Europe's top club competition gave Barcelona a 21st-minute lead, but City was rampant after Gundogan's equalizer in the 39th.
It was a landmark win for City over a team that the English club has modelled itself on since becoming a major force in the game after an Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008. And it was a satisfying one for Guardiola, who coached Barca to 14 trophies between 2008-12.
Robert Lewandowski scored both goals and hit the woodwork three times as Bayern Munich beat PSV Eindhoven 2-1 to secure a place in the knockout stage of the Champions League.
The final score was flattering for PSV as Poland striker Lewandowski could, with a bit more luck, have had five goals instead of his brace.
Lewandowski had already struck a post and the crossbar with headers before he stroked home a 34th-minute penalty to level the score and reward the visitors for their dominance.
The equalizer came 20 minutes after defender Santiago Arias rounded off a lightning counterattack to score his first Champions League goal and give PSV a shock lead.
But Lewandowski made sure of Bayern's victory with his fourth strike in as many Champions League matches this season when he turned in a cross by David Alaba in the 74th minute. Ten minutes later, Lewandowski turned neatly in the area but saw his shot hit the underside of the bar.
Penalty expertise at both ends of the pitch gave Benfica a 1-0 win over Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League, all but ending the Ukrainian champion's hopes of qualifying.
Eduardo Salvio put Benfica ahead with a powerfully hit spotkick in first-half stoppage time and, after the break, goalkeeper Ederson's penalty save stopped Dynamo Kiev from drawing level.
Napoli remained in control of its Champions League group following a 1-1 draw at Besiktas yesterday that featured two late goals.
Napoli captain Marek Hamsik equalised with a beautiful arching shot from outside the area three minutes after Ricardo Quaresma had put Besiktas ahead with a penalty.
Besiktas, which beat Napoli 3-2 in Italy two weeks ago, has never advanced to the knockout stage. Although the Turkish club did reach the quarterfinals of the old European Cup in 1987.
Arsenal sealed its place in the knockout stage of the Champions League after coming back from two goals down to grab a late 3-2 victory at Ludogorets yesterday.
Mesut Ozil scored the winner two minutes from time at the Natsionalen Stadion Vasil Levski, securing a spot in the last 16 for the Gunners for the 17th consecutive season.
The German international scored a hat trick in a 6-0 rout of the Bulgarians in the previous round of matches.
Ludogorets struck twice within three minutes in the first half through Jonathan Cafu and Claudiu Keseru, only for Arsenal to equalize with goals from Granit Xhaka and Olivier Giroud before the interval.
Celtic kept their Champions League campaign alive after Moussa Dembele's second-half penalty earned them a 1-1 draw with 10-man Borussia Monchengladbach in Germany.
The Scottish champions were on the brink of being dumped out of the competition after Lars Stindl's first-half goal looked to be enough to send the travelling Celtic supporters home disappointed, but Julian Korb was sent off when he felled Dembele in the box 15 minutes from time.