Five unanswered goals of PSG and the success of Real Madrid
Before the final round in group A, there was practically no intrigue left. Only the owner of a ticket to the Europa League, which was claimed by Brugge and Galatasaray, remained in doubt. True, the chances of the Belgians were much higher. They had one point more, as a result of which only the victory over the leader of the quartet, Paris Saint-Germain, could help the Turks.
However, the task was impossible. Wards of Thomas Tuchel did not spare vis-a-vis and arranged a rout. Mauro Icardi, Pablo Sarabia and Edinson Cavani distinguished themselves once, and the main characters were Kilian Mbappe and Neymar. Forwards chalked up on a goal and twice acted as assistants. At the same time, the Brazilian scored the first goal in the current draw, and the Frenchman scored a unique achievement. Now he has 30 (19 + 11) points for his performance in 30 matches of the Champions League.
Real Madrid cracked down on Brugge and rehabilitated for a draw on the Santiago Bernabeu. Moreover, the guests spent the first half badly and set an anti-record for the number of shots on goal (three) per half in a season. True, in the second they corrected and upset Simon Mignole three times. Vinicius Junior, Luca Modric and Rodrigo distinguished themselves, who continue to amaze with their performance. So, the Brazilian only applied eight times to the ball in a creamy T-shirt and sent it to the target six times.
Battle of the leaders in Munich and two penalties in Piraeus
“Tottenham Hotspur” could not take revenge for the humiliating defeat with a score of 2: 7 and again lost to “Bavaria”. This time, the Munich team was only three goals scored, which accounted for Kingsley Coman, Thomas Muller and Felipe Coutinho. The Londoners distinguished themselves Ryan Sessenion, who became the youngest author of the goal in the Champions League in the “spurs”. At the time of the meeting, his age was 19 years 207 days.
Thus, Bayern not only won the sixth victory in a row, but also set a record. FC Hollywood completed the group stage with 18 points and “+19” in the column “difference between goals scored and goals conceded” and exceeded the “Real” model of the 2011/12 season (18 points and “+17”) in this indicator. It is noteworthy that 24 years ago the Moscow Spartak succeeded in this, however, the balance of goals was a little more modest (+11).
Meanwhile, in Piraeus, the local Olympiacos took over the Red Star and pulled out a ticket to the Europa League playoffs. On the eve of the final round, the Greeks had only one point, but the victory helped them get ahead of the Serbs. Everything was decided by two 11-meter, and both were appointed three minutes before the end of regular time halves. But if the striker striking the guests of Tomane hit the crossbar, then the attacking hosts Yussef El-Arabi - right on target.
Three goals of Jesus and the defeat of Shakhtar
If the name of the winner of group C was not in doubt, the question regarding the owner of the second ticket to the playoffs remained open. For the tour to the end, it was claimed by Shakhtar, Atalanta and Zagreb Dynamo, the last of which had a match with Manchester City. Despite the lack of motivation, the wards of Pep Guardiola were not going to give points and beat the opponents in a big way. “Citizens” sent four goals into the goal of Dominik Livakovich, having conceded only once.
The main character was Gabriel Jesus. It took him only 20 minutes to complete a hat-trick and become the youngest Brazilian who managed to score ten goals in the Champions League. This bar obeyed him at 22 years 252 days, which allowed him to bypass Neymar (23 years 75 days). In addition, this goal became his 101st career, with 55 of them wearing the Manchester City T-shirt.
As part of Dynamo, Daniel Olmo distinguished himself, and the final score was set by Phil Foden. For the 19-year-old Englishman, this ball became the third in the Champions League, and for Manchester City - the 503th in all tournaments under the leadership of Guardiola.
Thus, the fate of the second place was decided in a parallel meeting, where Shakhtar was defeated by Atalanta. Already in the debut, the midfielder of the hosts Viktor Kovalenko was noted for a long-range strike, but the goal was canceled due to the “offside” position. Exactly 50 minutes later, a similar situation arose in the penalty box of the Pitmen themselves, but the video assistant decided differently. The defender’s heel helped the footballer not get into the offside position, and Leandro Castaña to open an account.
After that, the squad of Luis Castro had chances to achieve a saving draw, but everything deleted the removal of the Dodo. The Brazilian allowed himself intemperance and slapped his palm on the opponent's face. With ten of them, Shakhtar got stuck and missed again - the former Spartak midfielder Mario Pashalich strengthened his team’s advantage. It is all the more remarkable that he was assisted by the Ukrainian Ruslan Malinovsky, who had previously defended the colors of orange-black. In the 94th minute, Robin Gozens took advantage of a gross mistake by Jose Palomino and helped Atalanta create a story. The Bergamo team was the first in history to make it to the Champions League playoffs after three defeats at the start of the group stage.
Juventus fifth victory and attack on Ronaldo
Like other leaders of the quartets, the "old Signora" showed integrity and did not begin to share points in a meaningless match. And this despite the fact that in the first half, Bayer was very active and delivered 13 shots on goal of the enemy. The last time Juventus allowed the goalkeeper to be bothered so often in the final of the tournament with Real Madrid.
But in the end, the star wards of Maurizio Sarri said their weighty word. At first, Paulo Dybala helped Cristiano Ronaldo distinguish himself, and in compensated time, Gonzalo Higuain marked himself with a long-range strike. Juventus scored 16 points in the group stage and repeated his own record. Previously, he only twice demonstrated a similar result - in the 1996/97 and -2004/05 seasons.
Nevertheless, the ending of the meeting was overshadowed by the boorish behavior of fans. Over the past ten minutes, fans ran out to the field three times and rushed to Ronaldo, while two of them behaved extremely inadequately. One nearly crashed into Cristiano, and the second tugged at his neck in an attempt to take a picture.