Bayern 1 Liverpool 3/Slick van Dijk
● Defender keeps Lewandowski at bay and heads vital goal as Bayern are sunk
Liverpool pulled off a remarkable 3-1 victory over Bayern Munich in Germany last night to reach the Champions League quarter-finals after a goalless first leg at Anfield.
Two goals from Sadio Mane either side of a towering header by former Celtic
centre-back Virgil van Dijk sealed the win for Jurgen Klopp’s men.
Asked about his goal, Van Dijk said: “It was a very important goal and it feels amazing. To go through was the most important thing and I think it was totally deserved, too.”
One black mark for Liverpool was the late yellow card picked up by Scotland captain Andy Robertson which rules him out of the first leg of the quarter-final, the draw for which is tomorrow morning.
Matip 39og Henderson to injury after 13 minutes.
A touch of brilliance by Mane opened the scoring. Manuel Neuer tried to close down the forward and was caught out of position as Mane’s smart turn allowed him to embarrass the keeper, clipping a left-footed shot into an empty net.
It was Mane’s ninth goal in his last ten games and he equalled the club record of Steven Gerrard and Firmino of scoring six away goals in this competition.
Neuer was put under more pressure by Andy Robertson’s angled drive but it was the Scotland defender who was the one caught out as, almost from nothing, Serge Gnabry got in behind him and fired in a cross Matip could only turn into his own net with Lewandowski waiting to pounce.
Liverpool’s critical breakthrough came in the 69th minute when Van Dijk rose highest at the far post to head home James Milner’s corner.
Even with the lead, Liverpool continued to take the game to their opponents as space began to open up and Mane took full advantage with a diving, far-post header to convert Mohamed Salah’s sumptuous outside-of-the-foot cross. Messi 17pen, 78, Coutinho 31, Pique 81, Dembele 86
Tousart 58
(Aggregate 5-1) Lionel Messi scored two goals and set up two more as Barcelona moved into the Champions League quarter-finals with a 5-1 win over Lyon at the Nou Camp.
Three weeks after the sides battled out a goalless firstleg draw in France, Messi opened the scoring with a 17th-minute Panenkastyle penalty after Luis Suarez went down in the area when challenged by Jason Denayer.
Lyon keeper Anthony Lopes was beaten for a second time when Suarez controlled a pass from Arthur and laid the ball to Philippe Coutinho for a simple finish – a first goal since January for the club record signing.
Three minutes later, Lopes, who had been hurt in an earlier collision with Coutinho, was substituted, with Mathieu Gorgelin replacing him. Gorgelin then saw Suarez shoot wide, and palmed away a shot by Messi.
Two minutes after the break Messi came close to scoring again as his goalbound effort was cleared off the line by Marcal. Lyon then enjoyed a good spell and, from a corner, Barca failed to clear the ball and it was rifled in by Lucas Tousart.
As Lyon looked to sustain the momentum, Nabil Fekir fired off-target and Moussa Dembele headed wide.
Messi then came back to the fore as Barca wrapped things up. First he bamboozled Marcelo with a turn and hit a shot that Gorgelin got a glove to but could not stop trickling in.
Three minutes later Messi advanced with the ball from halfway into the box before playing it across for Gerard Pique to slot in. Five minutes after that, there was another dribble and pass by Messi, this time to Ousmane Dembele, who sent a shot in off Gorgelin’s leg.