Malta Independent

Liverpool lose three-goal lead at Sevilla

●Napoli keep slim hopes alive ●Tottenham win group with double over Dortmund ●Real Madrid on scoring spree in Cyprus

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Liverpool let a 3-0 lead slip from their fingers as Sevilla-snatched a 3-3 draw at the death to delay Champions League qualificat­ion for the last 16.

Two goals from Roberto Firmino and another from Sadio Mane seemed to put Liverpool in cruise control, but a brace from Wissam Ben Yedder and an injury-time equaliser from Guido Pizarro crushed the visiting side.

Lorenzo Insigne showed again what Italy missed in its World Cup playoff as he scored a stunning goal to help Napoli beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 and keep alive its chances of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages.

Piotr Zielinski and Dries Mertens netted late as Napoli moved three points behind second-placed Shakhtar with one match remaining in Group F.

Raheem Sterling chipped in a late winner as Manchester City overcome an uncharacte­ristically sloppy display to beat Feyenoord 1-0 and clinch top spot in its Champions League group yesterday.

Sterling ran onto Kyle Walker's through-ball and dinked a finish over Feyenoord goalkeeper Brad Jones in the 88th minute, a rare moment of class on a night when a weakened City lineup struggled for fluency.

Leipzig sent Monaco crashing out of the Champions League with a 4-1 victory, capitalizi­ng on a comedy of errors in a first-half horror show from last season's semifinali­sts.

The German visitors had a 2-0 lead after just nine minutes, with Monaco's Jemerson at fault in both goals. The Brazilian defender beat his own 'keeper with an own-goal and set up Leipzig's second with a feeble pass from the back that Kevin Kampl pounced on to set up Timo Werner to score.

Monaco captain Radamel Falcao then turned bad to worse by conceding a penalty that Werner converted for a 3-0 lead after 31 minutes.

Falcao made amends with a headed goal in the closing minutes of the half.

But Leipzig's fourth goal moments later from Naby Keita, who easily wriggled past Monaco defender Kamil Glik, extinguish­ed the short-lived glimmer of hope for the home fans.

Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 and book its place in the Champions League last 16 as group winner ahead of Real Madrid.

Harry Kane and Son Heung-min cancelled out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's strike for Dortmund to keep Tottenham on top of Group H. Madrid was three points behind.

Aubameyang made the breakthrou­gh after half an hour, firing to the far corner after Andrey Yarmolenko sent him through with a back-heel.

Aubameyang, who was back in Dortmund's lineup after being suspended by the club for "disciplina­ry reasons" on Thursday, was fortunate minutes later not to be booked for swiping at the back of Davinson Sanchez's head.

Kane's equalizer, when it came after the break, was down to an error from Jeremy Toljan. The Dortmund defender lost the ball and Dele Alli fed Kane, who eluded two defenders on the edge of the area to fire the ball inside the left post.

Son capped a discipline­d Tottenham performanc­e with a quarterhou­r remaining. Despite facing Marc Bartra and Mario Goetze, Alli skipped past and squared the ball for Son, who had enough space to pick his spot perfectly in the far top corner.

Karim Benzema scored twice in the first half and Cristiano Ronaldo added two goals in the second as Real Madrid thrashed Cypriot team APOEL 6-0 to guarantee a spot in the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Luka Modric and Nacho Fernandez also scored for the defending champions, which have made it past the group stage for 22 straight seasons.

Modric opened the scoring with a long-range shot midway through the first half and Benzema and Fernandez added their goals seven minutes apart just before halftime.

Ronaldo scored his goals early in the second half.

 ??  ?? Liverpool's Sadio Mane, right, fights for the ball with Sevilla's Johannes Geis
Liverpool's Sadio Mane, right, fights for the ball with Sevilla's Johannes Geis

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