A brace takes Messi closer to 100 goals
paris — The dazzling Lionel Messi inched closer to the century of goals in the Champions League as he returned from illness to score yet another double to fire Barcelona into the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday after a 2-0 win at Celtic as they were joined in the knockout rounds by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
The Argentine star returned from illness to score both goals at Celtic Park — the second from the penalty spot — to take his Champions League goal tally to 92, including nine in this season’s group stages alone.
In another match, City recovered from a goal down in Germany to earn a 1-1 draw at Borussia Moenchengladbach as both sides finished with 10 men. Raffael grabbed the opening goal for Gladbach on GRoup A Arsenal 2 Ludogorets 0 GRoup B Besiktas 3 3 Napoli 0 0 GRoup C Celtic 0 0 Gladbach 1 1 GRoup D Rostov 3 3 Atletico 2 2 PSG Basel 0 2 Benfica 3 Dynamo Kiev 0 Barcelona 2 Man City 1 Bayern Munich 2 PSV Eindhoven 0 23 minutes, but David Silva poked in Kevin De Bruyne’s cross just prior to the break before Lars Stindl and Fernandinho saw red in the second half. “We controlled the game but it wasn’t enough to win. We’re just happy that we’re through to the last 16,” said Belgian international De Bruyne.
French champions Paris Saint-Germain seized control of their own destiny in Group A with a 2-2 draw away to Arsenal.
Edinson Cavani turned in Blaise Matuidi’s cross at the far post to hand PSG an 18th-minute lead at the Emirates Stadium.
But the Gunners hit back on the stroke of half-time as Alexis Sanchez was brought down by Grzegorz Krychowiak and Olivier Giroud rolled home the resulting spot-kick.
Arsenal looked to be in pole position to finish top of the group when an attempted clearance from Marquinhos ended up as a fluke own goal. But Lucas ensured Unai Emery’s side earned a point with a header in 13th minutes from the end.
Both PSG and Arsenal have 11 points with one match to play, but the French outfit own the head-tohead edge on away goals. Bayern Munich crashed to a shock 3-2 defeat in Rostov and could face a daunting draw in the next round after Atletico Madrid’s 2-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven guaranteed them first place in Group D.
Douglas Costa rifled Bayern ahead on 35 minutes in Russia, but Rostov equalised through Sardar Azmoun on the stroke of half-time before going ahead courtesy of a Dmitri Poloz penalty. Juan Bernat swiftly levelled for the Germans, but Ecuador international Christian Noboa gave Rostov a first group stage victory in 67 minutes.
In Madrid, French duo Kevin Gameiro and Antoine Griezmann netted second-half goals as Atletico registered their fifth win.