Chelsea booked their spot in the next round before the bulk of Wednesday’s matches even got underway, courtesy of an easy win in Azerbaijan over Qarabag.
The hosts hung with the Premier League giants for 20 minutes, but after Rashad Sadygov was sent off for a foul inside the box, the team fell apart. Eden Hazard converted the spot-kick, Cesc Fabregas also scored from the penalty spot and Willian added two goals to the final tally.
In the other early fixture, CSKA Moscow beat winless Benfica 2-0, and the outcome of the late match in that group between Basel and Manchester United was key for the Russians. Michael Lang gave the Swiss hosts a late advantage, which the Red Devils could not overcome.
The result means Basel and CSKA are tied on points, with the Russians visiting Old Trafford on the final matchday.
PSG briefly trailed Celtic in their lopsided win, with Moussa Dembele opening the scoring in the first minute, but Neymar turned things around in style before Edinson Cavani (twice), Kylian Mbappe, Marco Verratti and Dani Alves also got on the board.
Barcelona and Juventus served up a drab scoreless draw that saw the Catalans through to the next round and gave the Bianconeri a great chance of joining them. The Italians lead Sporting by a single point in their group and can qualify by beating winless Olympiacos on the final matchday.
Perhaps the most anticipated match of Wednesday, between Atletico and Roma, gave the Rojiblancos some much-needed momentum after a poor start to the season. Antoine Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro gave their side the win and moved Atletico within two points of the Romans.
The Giallorossi are still likely to advance―they only need to beat winless Qarabag at home―but Atletico will have some hope of a minor miracle ahead of their trip to London to face Chelsea.
Here are Wednesday’s results:
CSKA 2-0 Benfica
Qarabag 0-4 Chelsea
Basel 1-0 Manchester United
Anderlecht 1-2 Bayern Munich
PSG 7-1 Celtic
Atletico Madrid 2-0 Roma
Juventus 0-0 Barcelona
Sporting 3-1 Olympiacos
You can read reviews of the games played on Tuesday by clicking on this link.
