The defending champions of the UEFA Champions League, Liverpool progressed into the knockout stages of the competition on Tuesday, beating Red Bull Salzburg 2-0 to keep their hopes of a successful defence alive.
Goals from Naby Keita and Mohamed Salah were enough for the Reds to advance. A loss would have seen them eliminated at the expense of their opponents, with Napoli as 4-0 winners over Genk in the same group.
In the late round of games, Inter Milan were beaten 2-1 by Barcelona, meaning the former were eliminated at the expense of Borussia Dortmund. Chelsea and Valencia progressed from Group H, with last season’s semi-finalists Ajax going no further after their defeat to the latter.
Here are the results from Tuesday’s action and a recap of the sides that managed to secure their spot in the last 16.
Tuesday Results (Group)
Red Bull Salzburg 0-2 Liverpool (E)
Napoli 4-0 Genk (E)
Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Slavia Prague (F)
Inter Milan 1-2 Barcelona (F)
Benfica 3-0 Zenit Saint Petersburg (G)
Lyon 2-2 RB Leipzig (G)
Chelsea 2-1 Lille (H)
Ajax 0-1 Valencia (H)
Standings(Goal Difference and Points)
Group E
1. Liverpool: +5, 13
2. Napoli: +7, 12
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3. Red Bull Salzburg: +3, 7
4. Genk: -15, 1
Group F
1. Barcelona: +5, 14
2. Dortmund: 0, 10
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3. Inter: +1, 7
4. Slavia Prague: -6, 2
Group G
1. RB Leipzig: +2, 11
2. Lyon: +1, 8
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3. Benfica: -1, 7
4. Zenit St. Petersburg: -2, 7
Group H
1. Valencia: +2, 11
2 Chelsea: +2, 11
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3. Ajax: +6, 10
4. Lille: -10, 1
Wednesday Fixtures (Group)
Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Atalanta (C)
Dinamo Zagreb vs. Manchester City (C)
Club Brugge vs. Real Madrid (A)
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Galatasaray (A)
Bayern Munich vs. Tottenham Hotspur (B)
Olympiacos vs. Red Star Belgrade (B)
Bayer Leverkusen vs. Juventus (D)
Atletico Madrid vs. Lokomotiv (D)
Tuesday Recap
In the early round of matches, the big question was whether Liverpool would qualify. Eventually, they overcame a big test in Austria.
Keita opened the scoring against his former club in a frantic game before Salah’s moment of genius a minute later saw the Reds move into a commanding position:
Football writer Michael Calvin was full of praise for the Egyptian, who had earlier missed a number of big chances to give Liverpool the lead:
The win for Liverpool means the defence of their title continues, while Salzburg will drop into the UEFA Europa League. On the evidence of their performance on Tuesday and earlier in the competition, they will be a big threat in that tournament.
In the late games, Inter knew a win against a Lionel Messi-less Barcelona would have put them into the knockout stages, but they were not good enough.
History was made at the San Siro, with Barcelona prodigy Ansu Fati becoming the youngest-ever scorer in the history of the Champions League:
It was his brilliant winner that condemned the Serie A side to defeat, with Dortmund’s 2-1 win over Slavia Prague putting them into the last-16 bracket:
Ajax, who thrilled so many on their way to the last four last season, will not play any further part in this season’s competition, with Valencia’s impressive 1-0 win at the Amsterdam Arena putting them top of the group.
Chelsea also moved through from that group, enduring an unnecessarily nervy end to their game with Lille courtesy of former Blues forward Loic Remy. Eventually, goals from Tammy Abraham and Cesar Azpilicueta in the first half were enough to see them advance.
Meanwhile, Lyon fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with the already-qualified Red Bull Leipzig, keeping their dreams of European glory alive
Credit: BleacherReport
