Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez scored in the 87th minute as the European champions clawed their way back from two goals down to beat RB Leipzig 3-2 and clinch top spot in Champions League Group G today with one round of matches remaining.
Erling Haaland and Phil Foden also netted in the second period after one of City’s most underwhelming recent first-half performances to give Pep Guardiola’s team 15 points after five games. Leipzig, who had also reached the last 16, have nine.
“First half was the worst I’ve seen us,” midfielder Foden told TNT. “Courage and motivation changed it around. This team has great mentality and its so nice to see.”
Haaland added another record to his bulging resume, becoming the fastest player to 40 Champions League goals. The striker became the quickest to 50 Premier League goals on Saturday.
Barcelona beat Porto
Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix scored in each half to earn Barcelona a 2-1 comeback win at home against Porto that booked their spot in the Champions League knockout rounds for the first time in three seasons.
After crashing out of the competition in the group stage two years in a row, five-times champions Barca are back in the last-16 after securing a top-two finish with one game remaining.
Barcelona are top of Group H on 12 points, three ahead of Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk who will play each other on the final matchday to decide who will join the Spaniards in the knockout stage.
Barca need at least a draw against bottom side Antwerp in two weeks’ time to guarantee top spot in the group.
They had to dig deep against a valiant Porto who were the better side in the first half but were frustrated by an inspired performance from Barca goalkeeper Inaki Pena, who replaced injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen and made several excellent saves to keep the hosts in the game.
Mbappe rescues PSG
Kylian Mbappe struck a controversial penalty deep in stoppage time to earn Paris St Germain a 1-1 draw against a valiant Newcastle United in the Parc des Princes and keep their Champions League destiny in their own hands.
The visitors had led the Group F clash since midway through the opening half thanks to Alexander Isak’s tap-in, his first Champions League goal. They weathered a furious late assault from the hosts only to be denied by a cruel and highly-contentious decision.
PSG’s players howled loudly for handball when the ball bounced off Newcastle’s Tino Livramento’s chest and against his elbow with referee Szymon Marciniak then invited to check the pitchside monitor by the VAR.
To Newcastle’s horror, Marciniak, who had turned down a more likely penalty earlier, pointed to the spot and Mbappe was cool as a cucumber to fire high past keeper Nick Pope in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
Shakhtar defeat Antwerp 1-0
Shakhtar Donetsk defender Mykola Matviyenko’s glancing header secured a 1-0 win over Royal Antwerp to keep alive their hopes of a last-16 Champions League spot.
The Ukrainians, who play in Hamburg, dominated the first half in the Group H clash, scoring in the 12th minute after Oleksandr Zubkov’s cross headed was headed in by Matviyenko.
-The Belgians had chances but Shakhtar goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk made brilliant saves to deny Antwerp from picking up their first point in their Champions League debut season.
Shakhtar are third but level on nine points with leaders Barcelona and second-placed Porto, who meet later on Tuesday in Spain, with the Catalans needing a win to secure top spot after losing 1-0 to the Ukrainians earlier this month.
Antwerp host Barca on December 13 in the final round of group fixtures, while Shakhtar visit Porto.
