PARIS: Barcelona’s slim hopes of advancing to the Champions League knockout stage had already evaporated by the time they took the field at Camp Nou on Wednesday and endured yet another 3-0 beating by Bayern Munich.

Inter Milan’s 4-0 rout of Vikt­oria Plzen hours earlier had pun­ched the Nerazzurri’s ticket to the next round alongside Group ‘C’ winners Bayern and relegated the Catalan club to the Europa Lea­gue for a second consecutive year.

It was not a good day for Spanish teams as Atletico Madrid also went out following an extraordinary sequence around a penalty awarded by video review after the final whistle of their 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.

Atletico’s spot kick was saved before a frantic scramble in the goalmouth still could not bring the winning goal the Spanish club needed to prevent FC Porto advancing thanks to their 4-0 win earlier at Group ‘B’ leaders Club Brugge.

“The Champions League has been cruel to me,” said Atletico coach Diego Simeone, whose side faces a battle with Leverkusen just for a Europa League place.

“We lost two finals [2014 and 2016], one on penalties and another in the 93rd minute... But I’m hard-headed and I will continue to try as long as I have the opportunity to qualify for the Champions League and then find the something we lack.”

Liverpool’s passage into the knockout stage with a game to spare was relatively calm in a 3-0 win at Ajax to join leaders Napoli in advancing from Group ‘A’.

In more stoppage-time drama with video review, Tottenham Hotspur thought they had won Group ‘D’ when Harry Kane shot the ball into Sporting Lisbon’s net with seconds left in a game tied at 1-1.

A long VAR check ruled Kane had been offside, a furious Tottenham coach Antonio Conte was shown a red card, and the most finely balanced group goes to the final round next week with all four teams having a chance to advance.

Leaders Tottenham play at last-placed Olympique de Marseille next Tuesday while Eintracht Frankfurt — who beat Marseille 2-1 on Wednesday — go to Sporting.

‘NEEDED A BEATING’

The result of the Inter-Plzen game made the outcome of the contest at Camp Nou irrelevant and Barca offered little challenge to Bayern.

The five-time champions have now fallen short of the round of 16 in back-to-back seasons since Lionel Messi left in August 2021 for Paris St Germain.

“This is our reality and we have to face it. Maybe that’s what we needed, to be given a beating in order to grow,” manager Xavi Hern­andez told a news conference.

“Today it was already over, too late to do anything. The main reason that we got to this situation was because of our own mistakes in the previous games, we failed to be effective up front.

“We go out with a really bad feeling but we need to reset and reconnect to fight for the other trophies left.”

Sadio Mane and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting gave Bayern a 2-0 lead at the break and Benjamin Pavard scored in the 95th minute of a match that saw Barca striker Robert Lewandowski struggle yet against his former club.

“We defended well, we defended passionately. The team made a statement today,” Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann told broadcasters DAZN.

Edin Dzeko’s brace after Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s opener led Inter to the last 16 in a game where Romelu Lukaku, recovered from injury and on his first appearance since August, sealed qualification with a late effort.

WILD FINISH

Porto scored three goals in 13 minutes to beat Brugge but knew an Atletico victory against Leverkusen would set up a deciding Group ‘B’ match between the Portuguese and Simeone’s team next week.

Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen led twice thanks to goals from Moussa Diaby and Callum Hudson-Odoi. But Yannick Carrasco’s first-half strike and Rodrigo de Paul’s equaliser gave Atletico 40 minutes to find a winner and keep their Champions League campaign alive.

Atletico got a corner at the end of stoppage time but the danger was cleared and the final whistle blown before video review assistants spotted a handball.

French referee Clement Turpin consulted his screen at the halfway line and gave the penalty.

In chaotic scenes, the players were called back onto the pitch but Belgium midfielder Carrasco’s effort was pushed away by goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky. The ball then looped up for Atlético’s Saul Níguez to head against the crossbar. That in turn teed up Reinildo for a shot that looked goalbound but struck Carrasco’s ankle and bounced over the goal to safety.

“The result is not progress for us. It was not our best game, but the team showed character and that moves us forward,” Hradecky said, referring to the chance of still qualifying for the Europa League.

ALL TO PLAY FOR

There was also late drama in London when Kane hit the net to send Tottenham through to the next round, celebrating wildly with the home fans but VAR had other ideas after a review that dragged on for three minutes.

“VAR is doing a lot of damage,” said Conte. “I want to see if in another stadium of a big team if they are ready to disallow this type of goal. I’d like to know this.”

Sporting went ahead against Spurs with a goal in the 22nd minute by former Tottenham man Marcus Edwards but Rodrigo Bentancur scored with 10 minutes left to set up a grandstand finish.

All four teams in the group are separated by just two points after Europa League champions Eintracht beat Marseille in Germany.

Matteo Guendouzi canceled Daichi Kamada’s opener but Randal Kolo Muani secured the Germans their first Champions League home win.

“It definitely cost us a lot of energy. I think we still played well and calmly in the end,” Frankfurt keeper Kevin Trapp said.

LIVERPOOL THROUGH

Last season’s losing finalists Liverpool knew a draw in Amsterdam would be enough to clinch a last-16 spot for a sixth straight season.

The Reds, struggling in the Premier League this term, weathered an early Ajax storm before Mohamed Salah gave them a half-time lead.

Darwin Nunez, who had earlier missed an open goal from six yards out, headed in to double the advantage shortly after the break and Harvey Elliott rounded off the scoring with his second goal in as many Champions League games.

“We’re through to the knockout stages and I will never take that for granted. It’s a really big one. We’re exhausted but we feel great,” Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp told BT Sport.

Liverpool join Napoli in progressing from Group ‘A’, but need a four-goal victory at Anfield in six days’ time to pip the red-hot Italians to top spot after a Giovanni Simeone brace and a late effort from Leo Ostigard secured a 3-0 win over Rangers.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2022