Four clubs secure progression to final 16
FOOTBALL
BERLIN: Barcelona, Juventus, Chelsea and Sevilla secured progression to the Champions League round of 16 yesterday with wins against Dynamo Kiev, Ferencvaros, Rennes and Krasnodar respectively.
Barcelona hammered Kiev 40 away thanks to a brace from Martin Braithwaite as well as goals from Sergino Dest and Antoine Griezmann.
It tops group G, three points ahead of Juve. Alvaro Morata’s late winner gave it a 21 victory after Cristiano Ronaldo had cancelled out Myrto Uzuni’s opener as the Italians also qualified with two games to spare.
Chelsea needed a late Olivier Giroud strike to win 21 in France. Callum HudsonOdoi gave the Blues the lead before Sehrou Guirassy equalised in the final 10 minutes for Rennes.
The London team leads Sevilla on goal difference in group E. The Spaniards also required a goal at the death, Munir’s effort seeing them prevail 21 in Krasnodar. Wanderson had previously levelled after Ivan Rakitic’s effort.
Elsewhere, Paris SaintGermain beat RB Leipzig 10 and Manchester United dispatched Istanbul Basaksehir 41. Borussia Dortmund had too much for Club Brugge in its 30 win, Erling Haaland scoring another two goals. Lazio triumphed 31 over Zenit St Petersburg.
Barca had to wait until the 52nd minute for the first goal, Dest netting for the first time since his move from Ajax.
Braithwaite then tapped in to double the lead before scoring from the spot. Griezmann’s sweeping finish in injury time completed the rout in Kiev.
This result means Ronald Koeman’s men maintain their 100% record in the group stage.
Ferencvaros’ Uzuni took advantage of Danilo’s mistake to give Ferencvaro a shock lead in Turin but Ronaldo’s leftfooted drive restored parity before the interval.
The game looked to be heading for a draw before Morata struck in the 92nd minute to break Ferencvaros hearts.
Timo Werner missed an easy chance to put Chelsea in front before HudsonOdoi’s sidefooted finish gave it the advantage against Rennes.
Guirassy’s bullet header appeared to have earned the French side just its second point of the group, but substitute Giroud powered in a looping ball to give his side the narrow victory.
Rakitic’s impressive early strike promised an easy 90 minutes for Sevilla, but Wanderson netted soon after the break to give Krasnodar hope of a point.
Munir scored the latest goal of the night, putting his side ahead in the fifth minute of injury time.
Neymar netted the only goal of the game from the spot in Paris, after Leipzig’s Marcel Sabitzer fouled Angel di Maria.
PSG is second in group H, three points adrift of Manchester United for which Bruno Fernandes scored twice, Marcus Rashford and Daniel James also getting themselves on the scoresheet.
Bottom side Basaksehir had only Deniz Turuc’s goal to celebrate.
Leipzig is third, level on points with PSG.
Haaland scored either side of a stunning Jadon Sancho freekick for Dortmund against Brugge.
It now tops group F ahead of Lazio, which went 20 up through Ciro Immobile and Marco Parolo against Zenit. Artem Dzyuba halved the deficit, but Immobile restored the twogoal buffer from the spot in the second half. — DPA