Amazing performance by Napoli
Napoli continue to delight their own fans.
After the draw, few expected that the Neapolitans, who were in the same quartet with Liverpool and Ajax, would guarantee themselves a place in the playoffs after four rounds, having no point losses.
Moreover, it was the wards of Luciano Spalletti who became the most productive team of the group stage - they have 17 goals.
And they didn't score less than three in a match.
So the Amsterdam team could not do anything with the unstoppable Italian team.
At home, they missed six at all, and on the road a week later they managed four - 2:4.
However, there was no intrigue in the confrontation.
The hosts already scored twice in the opening and then calmly brought the matter to victory, although the opponent twice reduced the gap to a minimum.
It is gratifying that the former midfielder of Rubin and Lokomotiv Khvicha Kvaratskhelia once again played a key role in achieving the result.
In the 16th minute, he assisted Giacomo Raspadori, who scored in the third Champions League meeting in a row, and after an hour of the meeting he converted a penalty.
Now the Georgian has 14 points in the “goal + pass” system (7 + 7) in all tournaments.
Good substitutions for Liverpool
However, Napoli's Group A rivals Liverpool managed to score more on Wednesday.
Wards of Jurgen Klopp defeated the Rangers on the road and thus caused unpleasant associations among the fans of Spartak, which in 2017 also missed seven from the Merseysiders.
Moreover, according to the results of the first half, the guests from Foggy Albion could not even imagine such an outcome.
In the absence of Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Thiago Alcantara and Andrew Robertson, who remained in the reserves, they were not like themselves.
In the 17th minute, the Reds, having made a gross mistake in defense, allowed Scott Erfield to score.
Restored balance on the scoreboard with a single shot on target by Roberto Firmino.
After the break, the Brazilian almost single-handedly dragged the team forward.
First, he scored again, successfully taking position in someone else's penalty area on the pitch of the corner, and then brought out rookie Darvin Nunez to shoot.
By the way, the Uruguayan scored his debut goal in the Champions League as part of Liverpool.
However, everything changed after entering the field of leaders.
So, Salah only needed six minutes and 12 seconds to complete the fastest hat-trick in the history of the tournament.
Along the way, this helped the Egyptian to come out on top in the scorers race.
He shares the lead with Erling Haaland, Robert Lewandowski, Franzdi Pierro, Mislav Orsic and Viktor Bonifase.
It is curious that in all episodes he was assisted by Jota.
And this is the first time in the main European Cup in ten years, when one player gave three assists to the author of the hat-trick.
Unstoppable scorer of Barcelona
And Barcelona and Inter gave a real thriller match at the Nou Camp.
A week ago, their confrontation in Italy came out not too bright.
The only goal was scored by Hakan Calhanoglu, and the ambiguous decisions of the referee were much more memorable.
But in Spain, opponents staged a show that ended in a draw - 3:3.
At the same time, only one goal was recorded in the first half.
The guests created more chances, but failed to beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
And the hosts took the lead thanks to a cunning draw of the corner.
Ousmane Dembele closed the cross from a partner from a couple of meters.
However, after the break, the Nerazzurri unexpectedly turned the tide of the fight, taking advantage of the opponent's mistakes in defense.
First, the most experienced Gerard Pique unacceptably missed the transfer from the depths to Nicolo Barella, who equalized the score.
And then Lautaro Martinez easily beat Eric Garcia and brought the partners ahead.
But the last word in the roster of the Catalans remained with Robert Lewandowski.
At the 82nd minute, with the help of a rebound, he restored the status quo, and in the time added by the referee he scored a double and saved the blue garnet from defeat.
Inter, for the second victory in a row, lacked a goal from substitute Robin Gosens.
Moreover, in one of the last attacks, another guest reservist, Kristjan Aslani, went to a rendezvous with Ter Stegen, but miraculously failed to beat him.
Thus, Lewandowski's goals became the only pleasant moment for the hosts.
The Pole scored 14 goals in 12 matches for Barcelona, and brought the number of goals to 91 in the Champions League.
But a draw with a high degree of probability will force Xavi's wards to be content with the Europa League playoffs for the second season in a row.
After four rounds, they are three points behind the Milanese and, in case of equality, will give way to them in personal meetings.
That is, a victory over Viktoria Plzen in the next match guarantees the Nerazzurri a ticket to the 1/8 finals.
Bayern have already gone there, defeating the Czech champion on the road.
Uniform failure of Porto
The game day was not the best for another young Spanish coach, Xabi Alonso.
Bayer in the debut match under his leadership in the Champions League lost at home to Porto.
The real hero of the match was the goalkeeper of the guests Diogo Costa.
It was he who laid the foundation for the rout, already in the sixth minute having performed a magnificent effective clearance on Wenderson Galeno in the style of Igor Akinfeev.
And soon the goalkeeper saved a penalty kick from Kerem Demirbay.
Surprisingly, last week in a home game against Leverkusen, Costa also parried a shot from the spot, but from Patrick Schick.
Sergio Conceisau's wards treated their penalty kicks more carefully.
After the break, they earned two at once, and both were converted by Mehdi Taremi.
This allowed Porto to finish second in Group B.
Meanwhile, Brugge continues to make history.
Two rounds before the end of the group stage, the Belgian champion joined such giants as Bayern, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Napoli in the 1/8 finals.
In the first three matches, he scored one hundred percent of the points, and in the fourth, a goalless draw with Atlético was enough to solve the problem.
The decisive role in the success was played by the 34-year-old goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who made nine saves.
In the end, the guests were in the minority after the removal of Kamal Sov, but survived.
And the goalkeeper miraculously beat off Alvaro Morata's shot from the goalkeeper's line with his face.
Now the veteran has four consecutive clean sheets in the main European Cup.
Brugge, not only remained the only team that did not concede in the group stage, but also made it to the Champions League playoffs for the first time.
Gross mistakes "Sporting"
For another Portuguese team, the game day was unsuccessful.
Sporting started the group stage with two victories in a row, but lost twice in double matches to Marseille, on the contrary, who had no points.
And if in France the team was let down by goalkeeper Antonio Adan, who made two gross mistakes and was removed from the field, then in Lisbon another old-timer of the team cheated - Ricardo Esgayu, who played the hundredth match for her.
Already in the 19th minute, he knocked down an opponent in the penalty area and received a second yellow card.
And Mateo Guendouzi confidently converted a penalty kick.
Soon the refereeing team again sided with the guests.
The referee on the line at first did not count Alexis Sanchez's goal due to offside, but the chief, after watching the replay, pointed to the "center".
And after an hour of the meeting, the hosts were left with nine at all.
Pedro Gonçalves saw a “yellow card” in front of him for a rough foul and immediately swore at Alejandro Jose Hernandez Hernandez.
The Spaniard perfectly understood his words and took out the second card.
Marseille, thanks to a successful stretch, managed to rise from the last line to the second in the quartet D. Now it is only a point behind Tottenham, which turned out to be stronger than Eintracht in a super-successful match - 3:2.