Liverpool complete CL sweep for England, Ronaldo claims new record

Published December 8, 2017
LIVERPOOL: Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho scores against Spartak Moscow from the penalty spot during the Champions League match at Anfield.—Reuters
LIVERPOOL: Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho scores against Spartak Moscow from the penalty spot during the Champions League match at Anfield.—Reuters

PARIS: England has become the first country to have five teams in the knockout stage of the Champions League after Liverpool completed a sweep for Premier League clubs with a 7-0 thrashing of Spartak Moscow on Wednesday.

Liverpool, who have won Europe’s top competition five times, clinched Group ‘E’ after Philippe Coutinho secured his first hat-trick for the club and were joined in the last 16 by former champions FC Porto, Sevilla and Shakhtar Donetsk.

That quartet completed the line-up on the final night of group-stage action that was also notable for another Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals record in the competition.

The Portuguese superstar scored his ninth in the competition this season in reigning champions Real Madrid’s 3-2 win at home to Borussia Dortmund.

In doing so, he became the first player to score in all six Champions League group-stage matches in a season while also equalling his Barcelona rival Lionel Messi’s record of 60 group-stage goals in total.

Liverpool were one of four English teams to top a group, along with Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. Chelsea completed the sweep, signaling a revival by English clubs after years of underachievement since the west London club were European champions in 2012.

Needing only a draw to qualify, it was all too easy for Liverpool at Anfield, where Coutinho led Liverpool’s dismantling of Spartak with two goals in the opening 15 minutes before completing his first hat-trick for the Reds in the 50th.

Sadio Mane scored twice and there was one each for Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah as Liverpool’s ‘Fab Four’ ran riot and they topped their group by three points from second-placed Sevilla. Spartak finished in third place and dropped into the Europa League.

“Nobody could imagine that it would go like this tonight. It was an all or nothing game for both teams,” said Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp after guiding the Reds into the last 16 for the first time in nine years.

“We opened the game perfectly and after we took the lead we didn’t have to defend. It was a nice night at Anfield.”

Spartak’s defeat meant Sevilla were through regardless of their 1-1 draw with Maribor in Slovenia.

In freezing temperatures, Maribor captain Marcos Tavares scored the opener with Paulo Henrique Ganso coming off the bench to equalise for the Spaniards.

Ukrainian giants Shakhtar are through to the last 16 in Group ‘F’ at the expense of Napoli after beating Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City 2-1 in Kharkiv, ending the English club’s unbeaten record in all competitions this season.

Already guaranteed first place, City were caught on the break and failed to become only the seventh club in Champions League history to win every game in the group stage.

“The game didn’t go as we expected, in the first half they were better than us and it was a deserved win for them,” City midfielder Bernardo Silva said. “In the second half we tried to come back, had our chances, but we are not happy. Even though we had already qualified, we wanted the three points.”

PORTO: FC Porto’s Yacine Brahimi (L) celebrates with team-mate Vincent Aboubakar after scoring against AS Monaco during the Group ‘G’ match at the Dragao Stadium.—AP
PORTO: FC Porto’s Yacine Brahimi (L) celebrates with team-mate Vincent Aboubakar after scoring against AS Monaco during the Group ‘G’ match at the Dragao Stadium.—AP

Shakhtar, which finished runner-up, took the lead in the 26th minute when Bernard cut in from the left side of the box and curled a shot inside the far post, beyond the reach of goalkeeper Ederson.

Eight minutes later, Ismaily sprinted to beat Ederson to the ball before rounding the keeper and stroking a shot into the unguarded net. City’s consolation goal came in added time when Sergio Aguero converted a penalty.

It was City’s first competitive loss since being beaten by Arsenal in an FA Cup semi-final in April.

NAPOLI OUT

In the group’s other game, Feyenoord rallied from a goal down to beat Napoli, who failed to join Serie A rivals Juventus and AS Roma in the knockout stage. Napoli ended third and headed to the Europa League.

Napoli had gone in front early on away to already-eliminated Feyenoord through Piotr Zielinski, but Nicolai Jorgensen equalised. Jeremiah St Juste then made it 2-1 at the death for the Dutch champions after they had Tonny Vilhena sent off.

“Now we want to go as far as possible in the Europa League,” Napoli captain Marek Hamsik told Mediaset Premium.

Porto also knew a win would take them through in Group ‘G’ and the two-time European champions ran riot against a hapless Monaco, hammering last season’s semi-finalists 5-2.

Vincent Aboubakar scored twice for the Portuguese club, with Yacine Brahimi, Alex Telles and Francisco Soares also netting.

Monaco replied through a Kamil Glik effort and a Radamel Falcao header against his old club, while Porto’s Felipe and Rachid Ghezzal for the visitors were sent off after an altercation in the first half.

Monaco reached the semi-finals of the competition last season by playing some scintillating attacking football. But it has been a very different story this season for the French champions and coach Leonardo Jardim’s side were already guaranteed to finish last.

“It’s sad not to be continuing in the Champions League but that’s football. Now we have to focus on the league and the two domestic cups,” Falcao said. “Our team changed a lot in the summer and we need time to get stronger.”

MADRID: Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo leaps to head the ball as team-mate Borja Mayoral and Borussia Dortmund’s Raphael Guerreiro (R) and Marcel Schmelzer look on during the Group ‘H’ match at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.—Reuters
MADRID: Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo leaps to head the ball as team-mate Borja Mayoral and Borussia Dortmund’s Raphael Guerreiro (R) and Marcel Schmelzer look on during the Group ‘H’ match at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.—Reuters

RB Leipzig were forced to settle for a Europa League spot in their debut European campaign.

They lost 2-1 at home to group winners Besiktas, for whom Talisca scored a last-minute winner after Naby Keita had cancelled out Alvaro Negredo’s early penalty opener. Leipzig had Stefan Ilsanker sent off.

Real Madrid were already through before beating Dortmund in a Bernabeu thriller in Group ‘H’.

Borja Mayoral put the holders in front and Ronaldo’s stunning, record-setting strike came after just 12 minutes.

Pierre-Emerick Aubam­eyang scored a brace to haul Dortmund level, but Lucas Vazquez won it for the hosts as the Germans drop into the Europa League.

“The Champions League is a competition that I love to play and score in, as you can see,” Ronaldo told UEFA.com.

Group ‘H’ winners Tottenham eased to a 3-0 win at home to APOEL, with Fernando Llorente, Son Heung-min and Georges-Kevin N’Koudou scoring at Wembley.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2017

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