Real, Man U, PSG advance in Champions League
LONDON, England (AP) — Nine-time winner Real Madrid qualified for the Champions League’s last 16 alongside Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain yesterday, while Juventus kept alive their chances of reaching the knockout stages.
Madrid, who only needed a draw at home to Galatasaray to clinch top spot in Group B, won 4-1 with goals from Gareth Bale, Alvaro Arbeloa, Angel Di Maria and Isco.
Juventus claimed their first win of the campaign and moved into second place in the same group with a 3-1 victory over Copenhagen as Arturo Vidal scored a hat-trick. The Bianconeri kept their destiny in their own hands and a draw away to Galatasaray on the final matchday will be enough for the Italian champions to advance.
United qualified from Group A with an emphatic 5-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen and PSG secured top spot in Group C with a 2-1 win against Olympiakos.
On a night when all the big clubs won, defending champion Bayern Munich set a new Champions League record by winning their 10th successive game in the competition with a 3-1 win at CSKA Moscow. They equalled Barcelona’s 2002-03 record with nine in a row three weeks ago.
Bayern, the only team left in the tournament with a 100 per cent record, overcame freezing temperatures to come out on top of an entertaining match. Bayern lead Group D with 15 points, three more than Manchester City after the Blues won 4-2 against last-place Viktoria Plzen. Bayern and City, who had already qualified, will be vying for the group supremacy in two weeks in Germany.
Despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence and Sergio Ramos’s sending off after just 26 minutes, Madrid played superbly in the second half, scoring three goals to add to Bale’s opener.
Ramos was sent off for a foul on Umut Bulut, but Madrid looked unfazed as Bale opened the scoring with an exquisite free kick from 30 metres in the 37th minute.