Bayern and City advance to Champions League knockout stage
After the Champions League paused to pay tribute to Diego Maradona, defending champion Bayern Munich and Manchester City won to advance to the knockout rounds.
The Argentina great’s death was announced two hours before the first games kicked off. A minute’s silence was observed by players before each of the eight games, which were all played in empty stadiums because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Bayern’s 3-1 win over Salzburg included Robert Lewandowski’s 71st Champions League goal, tied for third all-time with Real Madrid great Raul.
City’s 1-0 win at Olympiakos means six elite teams are already into the last 16 with two rounds of the group stage still to play. Barcelona, Juventus, Chelsea and Sevilla advanced on Wednesday.
Liverpool wasted the chance to join them, as the 2019 champion conceded their first goals in this season’s competition to lose 2-0 at home against Atalanta. Eden Hazard’s seventh-minute penalty in a 2-0 win at Inter Milan helped ensure Real Madrid are back on track after a shaky start to the campaign. Inter are last in group B and facing elimination.
Bayern extend streak
Bayern’s victory was its 15th straight in the Champions League.
Lewandowski opened the scoring in the 43rd minute, picking up the rebound when Thomas Mu¨ller’s shot was saved. The Poland captain now trails only Cristiano Ronaldo’s 131 Champions League goals and Lionel Messi on 118.
Bayern’s maximum 12 points in Group A is seven clear of Atletico Madrid, who were held 0-0 at home to Lokomotiv Moscow.
Liverpool take hit
Liverpool cruised to a 5-0 win at Atalanta three weeks ago, and had never lost a Champions League group-stage game at home under coach Jurgen Klopp.
With first-choice defenders injured and rested, Liverpool were deservedly beaten by Atalanta who have now won both their away matches
while failing to win either home game. Josip Ilicic and Robin Gosens scored the goals early in the second half, to earn three points that help Atalanta keep pace with Ajax behind Liverpool in Group D. Ajax claimed a 3-1 win over Midtjylland and visit Anfield next Wednesday for the first time since the 1966-67 European Cup.
Madrid win in Milan
Real Madrid’s back-to-back wins over Inter Milan have repaired the damage of a surprise opening loss at home to Shakhtar Donetsk last month.
A 2-0 win at San Siro was also the first time Madrid had beaten either Inter or AC Milan at the stadium.
Inter played most of the game with 10 men after Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal was sent off. Vidal was shown two yellow cards within seconds when berating referee Anthony Taylor for a penalty kick not being awarded.
Madrid still trail Group B leader Borussia Mo¨nchengladbach by one point, after the German side cruised to a 4-0 win over Shakhtar. Inter, though, is six points behind Gladbach with two games to go. Borussia’s standout goal was its third, an overhead kick by Switzerland forward Breel Embolo.
Foden stars
Denied regular playing time in the Premier League, 20-year-old Phil Foden made use of a start from coach Pep Guardiola to score in the 36th minute and seal Manchester City’s 1-0 win at Olympiakos. City have a perfect four-win record to advance to the knockout rounds for an eighth straight season, and will likely be joined by Porto who won 2-0 at Marseille, who slumped to a 13th straight loss.