Three red cards, on-field brawls, countless chances and a flurry of late goals. A wild, win-or-bust match in the Champions League between Porto and Atletico Madrid had it all.
In the end, it was Atletico celebrating a place in the last 16 of Europe’s top club competition with a 3-1 win on Tuesday, emerging from a three-way fight for qualification in the final round of group games.
On a night when Ajax striker Sebastien Haller became an unlikely history-maker, Real Madrid finished on top of its group, and Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi ran amok for Paris Saint-Germain, much of the focus on the next-to-last night of group play was on the Group B finale as three teams vied to be runner-up to Liverpool.
It turned ugly, unsurprisingly given the stakes, with Porto having two players red-carded after Atletico had Yannick Carrasco sent off for swinging his arm around an opponent’s neck.
Atletico was outplayed for much of the game, but was opportunistic in front of goal, with Antoine Griezmann scoring the 56th-minute opener at a corner and both Angel Correa and Rodrigo De Paul adding breakaway goals after the 90th minute.
With its victory, Liverpool became the first English team to win all six of its group games in a single Champions League campaign.
Haller’s first season in the Champions League has been a historic one.
By converting an eighth-minute penalty for Ajax in its 4-2 win over Sporting, the Ivory Coast striker became only the second player — after Cristiano Ronaldo in 2017-18 — to score in all six matches of a single group stage. He finished with 10 goals in total.
The results:
Group A: Paris Saint-Germain 4 (Mbappe 2, 7, Messi 38, 76-pen) bt Club Brugge 1 (Rits 68); RB Leipzig 2 (Szoboszlai 24, Andre Silva 71) bt Manchester City 1 (Mahrez 76). PSG and Man City qualified.
Group B: AC Milan 1 (Tomori 29) lost to Liverpool 2 (Salah 36, Origi 55); Porto 1 (Oliveira 90+6-pen) lost to Atletico Madrid 3 (Griezmann 56, Correa 90, De Paul 90+2). Liverpool and Atletico advanced.
Group C: Borussia Dortmund 5 (Malen 29, Reus 45+2 & 53, Haaland 68, 81) bt Besiktas 0; Ajax 4 (Haller 8-pen, Antony 42, Neres 58, Berghuis 62) bt Sporting Lisbon 2 (Nuno Santos 22, Bruno Tabata 78). Ajax and Sporting progressed.
Group D: Real Madrid 2 (Kroos 17, Asensio 79) bt Inter Milan 0; Shakhtar Donetsk 1 (Fernando 42) drew with Sheriff Tiraspol 1 (Nikolov 90+3). Real and Inter through.
