Last gasp goal puts minds at rest
early October.
Sergio Aguero earned the point City needed to guarantee a toptwo finish with a game to spare in Group F, heading in a corner from Riyad Mahrez in the 83rd minute — just after Maxwel Cornet regained the lead for Lyon with his second goal of an end-to-end game.
Having joined Memphis Depay in virtually missing an open goal in the first half, Cornet had given Lyon the lead in the 55th with a dipping shot into the corner from just outside the area. Aymeric Laporte equalized in the 62nd minute, also with a header from a set-piece.
City leads the group on 10 points, three clear of second-place Lyon. The French side travels to Shakhtar Donetsk, which is two points further back in third, in two weeks with both teams still in with a chance of qualifying.
Bayern Munich secured its place in the knockout stage of the Champions League with a 5-1 rout of Benfica, easing the pressure on coach Niko Kovac.
Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski both scored twice for the home side, ensuring Bayern qualified for the next stage with a game to spare in Group E.
Kovac was in danger of losing his job following Bayern's 3-3 draw at home to relegation-threatened Fortuna Duesseldorf on Saturday. While Bayern is nine points adrift in the Bundesliga, it is faring better in the Champions League, despite a 1-1 draw with Ajax in Munich on Oct. 2.
Robben got the hosts off to a great start against Benfica when he beat three defenders and eluded another before letting fly inside the far corner with his left boot in the 13th minute.
The Dutch winger grabbed his second on the half-hour mark, again with his left foot, six minutes before Joshua Kimmich sent in a corner for Lewandowski to get off the mark.
Halftime substitute Gedson made an immediate impact after coming on when he dinked the ball over Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, but Lewandowski answered five minutes later with a goal almost identical to his first: a header to Kimmich's corner.
Viktoria Plzen came from a goal down to beat CSKA Moscow 2-1.
Nikola Vlasic gave CSKA the lead with a penalty in the 10th minute, but Plzen hit back in the second half to move above CSKA to third in Group G. The loss ended CSKA's faint hopes of qualifying, while Plzen was already out of the battle for the top two places.
Plzen's Roman Prochazka saw his 44th-minute penalty saved by Igor Akinfeev but made up for missing that chance by blasting the ball into the top-right corner to level the game at 1-1 in the 56th.
Plzen goalkeeper Ales Hruska kept his team level with a fine save from Arnor Sigurdsson before Lukas Hejda scored the winning goal after a corner.
Cristiano Ronaldo set up Mario Mandzukic for the winning goal as Juventus secured a spot in Champions League knockout stage with a 1-0 win over Valencia yesterday.
Ronaldo got away from his marker with some quick footwork before rolling the ball across for Mario Mandzukic to tap into the net in the 59th minute.
Juventus only needed a point to progress but the Bianconeri were keen to get back on track following a surprise home loss against Manchester United in the last round of group matches.
Dusan Tadic scored twice in the second half yesterday to take Ajax to the last 16 in the Champions League for the first time in 12 years with a 2-0 win over 10-man AEK Athens, in a match marred by fan violence in and around the stadium.
The Serb defender scored from the penalty spot in the 68th minute after Marko Livaja received a second yellow card for handling the ball. He struck again four minutes later, tapping in an unselfish pass from substitute Klaas Jan Huntelaar.
The game was preceded by violence inside Athens' Olympic Stadium and in parts of central Athens, mostly involving Greek fans who clashed with local rivals and riot police. Moments before the match started, riot police charged into the stands to break up AEK fans who hurled flares and smoke canisters. Police reported no injuries or arrests, although images seemed to show one fiery explosion going off near a section of supporters.
Brazilian midfielder Taison scored in the 92nd minute to give Shakhtar Donetsk a 3-2 win at Hoffenheim, keeping alive the Ukrainian team's hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout stage.
Taison set up compatriot Ismaily in the 14th minute and then scored himself in the 15th to give Shakhtar an early 2-0 lead.
But Andrej Kramaric pulled one back for Hoffenheim two minutes later and Steven Zuber equalized five minutes before the break.
The hosts went down to 10 men when forward Adam Szalai earned two yellow cards in quick succession around the hour mark.
Both sides went close - Zuber hit the crossbar and Taison hit the post - before the Shakhtar captain won it in injury time with his second goal. Ismaily set the goal up this time as Taison fired inside the bottom left corner.
The late win means Shakhtar faces Lyon with second place in Group F at stake on Dec. 12.
Lyon drew 2-2 at home with group leader Manchester City, which advanced to the last 16.
City has 10 points, Lyon seven and Shakhtar five ahead of the last games. Hoffenheim, with three points, cannot advance in its first Champions League campaign.
A series of colossal errors by Roma handed Real Madrid a 2-0 victory yesterday and first place in Group G of the Champions League.
Roma winger Cengiz Under sent the ball over the bar from pointblank range with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois already down on the ground in first-half added time and two defensive blunders led to Gareth Bale's goal immediately after the break.
Lucas Vazquez then added another for Madrid against a demoralized Roma.
Both three-time defending champion Madrid and last season's semifinalist Roma had secured spots in the last 16 before kickoff, as Viktoria Plzen won 2-1 at CSKA Moscow in the other group match earlier to send them through.
Madrid leads with 12 points, Roma has nine, and Plzen and CSKA four each.
The victory offered some welcome relief for new Madrid manager Santiago Solari, who was facing pressure following a 3-0 loss at Eibar in the Spanish league in his first match since being given the permanent coaching job.