Champions League roundup 2/11/22: PSG lose top spot; Chelsea & Real Madrid cruise
By Tom Gott
The final night of Champions League group stage action produced one of the most memorable finales in recent memory.
Real Madrid secured their spot as group leaders, while Chelsea and Manchester City cruised to comfortable wins, but the real drama was to be seen in Group H, where PSG lost top spot to Benfica in the most dramatic of fashions.
Here's how it all went down.
Group E
Chelsea 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb
Chelsea had already secured top spot in Group E but put out a strong lineup to secure a 2-1 victory over Dinamo Zagreb.
Bruno Petkovic headed the visitors ahead early on but Chelsea were the better side all game and goals from Raheem Sterling and debutant Denis Zakaria saw Graham Potter's side pick up a routine victory.
AC Milan 4-0 Red Bull Salzburg
Milan booked their place in the Champions League knockout stages in style as they romped to a 4-0 victory against Red Bull Salzburg.
Olivier Giroud scored the only goal of a tense first half but the Rossoneri ran away with things after the break, with the Frenchman bagging a second in between goals from Rade Krunic and Junior Messias.
Group F
Real Madrid 5-1 Celtic
The evening's early action was in Group F, where Real Madrid secured top spot with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Celtic.
First-half penalties from Luka Modric and Rodrygo, before Josip Juranovic missed his own spot kick, set the tone, and Real ran rampant after the break as Marco Asensio, Vinicius Junior and Federico Valverde all got among the goals.
The pick of the bunch was a consolation from Jota, whose glorious free-kick finally beat Thibaut Courtois with ten minutes to go.
Shakhtar Donetsk 0-4 RB Leipzig
RB Leipzig did their best to push Real all the way, securing their own dominant victory over Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.
Christopher Nkunku tapped home a rebounded Timo Werner strike to put the German side ahead in the first half, but the goals came flying in after the break as Andre Silva, Dominik Szoboszlai and Dani Olmo all found the back of the net as Leipzig secured second place.
Group G
Copenhagen 1-1 Borussia Dortmund
With their place in the next round already guaranteed, Dortmund played out a 1-1 draw with Copenhagen.
Thorgan Hazard put the Bundesliga side ahead midway through the first half but Copenhagen had plenty of moments of their own and Hakon Arnar Haraldsson fired home just before the half-time break to secure a share of the spoils.
Man City 3-1 Sevilla
Manchester City threatened to make hard work of things against Sevilla but ended up flexing their quality en route to a 3-1 victory.
Rafa Mir scored for the visitors on the half-hour mark but a half-time team talk from Pep Guardiola sorted things out as goals from Rico Lewis, Julian Alvarez and Riyad Mahrez ensured City maintained their unbeaten run in the group stages.
Group H
Juventus 1-2 PSG
The real excitement of the evening came in Group H, where PSG looked to be cruising to top spot as they saw off Juventus 2-1.
Kylian Mbappe put the French side ahead 13 minutes in but Leonardo Bonucci tied things up before the break. Nuno Mendes restored PSG's advantage with 20 minutes to go, and it looked as though they were going to keep their place atop Group H, but Benfica had other ideas.
Maccabi Haifa 1-6 Benfica
Two late goals from Benfica against Maccabi Haifa saw the Portuguese side snatch top spot away from PSG due to scoring more away goals.
Benfica were 4-1 up as the clock ticked over to 88 but goals from Henrique Araujo and Joao Mario saw the visitors match PSG on goal difference and, with the two sides tied on head-to-head after two 1-1 draws, it would come down to away goals, allowing Benfica to snatch top spot in the most dramatic of fashions.
