Soccer

Champions League round-up: Messi and Mbappe both net braces

Dortmund cruise but must settle for Europa League; Real swat aside Inter

Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe both netted a brace for PSG. Photograph: Sebastian Frej/Getty Images

Tue Dec 7 2021 - 22:18

PSG 4 Club Brugge 1

Already-qualified Paris St Germain finished the Champions League group stage in style as Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi bagged doubles in a 4-1 home win over Club Brugge on Tuesday.

France forward Mbappe put the Ligue 1 side 2-0 up in the first seven minutes and Messi added a third before the break plus a fourth with a penalty after the interval.

PSG were guaranteed second place in Group A before kickoff while Manchester City, who lost 2-1 at RB Leipzig on Tuesday, had already secured top spot and finished with 12 points, one ahead of Mauricio Pochettino’s Paris side.

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Brugge were eliminated from European competition after finishing bottom with four points, three behind Leipzig.

Visiting goalkeeper Simon Mignolet clumsily punched Nuno Mendes’s cross into the path of Mbappe who fired home after two minutes and the striker was at it again five minutes later when he volleyed past the Belgian from Angel Di Maria’s pass.

Mbappe is the youngest player to reach 30 goals in the Champions League, less than two weeks before his 23rd birthday.

Messi added the third seven minutes before halftime with a trademark curled attempt from outside the area and although Mats Rits pulled one back in the 68th, PSG were always in control.

Messi wrapped up a comfortable victory with a 76th-minute spot kick after being brought down by substitute Ignace Van der Brempt.

Borussia Dortmund 5 Besiktas 0

Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus and Erling Haaland each scored twice in a 5-0 win over Besiktas in their final Champions League Group C game on Tuesday, with the Germans already confirmed in third place but bouncing back from a Bundesliga loss to Bayern Munich.

Reus scored with a first-half stoppage time penalty and added another with a superb solo effort while Haaland headed in two more goals after coming on as a substitute, as Dortmund ended the campaign on a high and will continue in the Europa League.

Ajax and Sporting advanced to the round of 16 while Besiktas finished in last place after losing all six of their group games.

The hosts, who had lost 3-2 to Bayern Munich in the domestic league on Saturday, took the lead with their first chance as Jude Bellingham, commanding in his midfield role, fed Dutchman Donyell Malen who slotted the ball under goalkeeper Ersin Destanoglu on the half hour mark.

England international Bellingham had earlier been fined €40,000 by the German Football Association (DFB) for critical comments about referee Felix Zwayer following their loss to Bayern.

Dortmund, with top striker Haaland starting on the bench, doubled their lead with a Reus penalty after Besiktas’ Welinton was sent off for a foul on Mo Dahoud in the box.

The Dortmund captain then gave his team a three-goal cushion after rounding three players to wrongfoot Destanoglu with a clever shot before Haaland headed in their fourth in the 68th, five minutes after coming on.

The Norwegian wrapped up their win with another close-range header in the 81st minute.

Porto 1 Atletico Madrid 3

Atletico Madrid snatched a place in the Champions League last 16 as they won 3-1 at Porto on Tuesday in a tense and ill-tempered game which saw both sides have a man sent off.

Antoine Griezmann put Atletico in front against the run of play in the 56th minute, bundling the ball into the net following a corner after the hosts had missed a glut of clear chances either side of the break.

Atletico’s lead was threatened when Yannick Carrasco was sent off in the 67th minute for raising his hands to Otavio as tempers raged following a foul but Porto’s numerical advantage lasted only a few moments as Wendell was dismissed for appearing to lightly strike Matheus Cunha with his elbow.

Substitute Angel Correa clinched the win for Atletico with a cold-blooded finish on the counter attack in the 90th minute, while Rodrigo de Paul added a third goal 60 seconds later.

Porto then earned a consolation penalty which Sergio Oliveira converted with the final kick of the game.

Diego Simeone’s Atleti side began the game bottom of Group B but ended it second on seven points, Porto coming third with five and qualifying for the Europa League.

Real Madrid 2 Inter Milan 0

Real Madrid finished top of Group D on Tuesday as goals from Toni Kroos and Marco Asensio secured a 2-0 home win over Inter Milan who had Nicolo Barella sent off.

Both teams had already booked their last 16 places and Real ended on 15 points from six games, five more than second-placed Inter.

Kroos struck in the 17th minute with a crisp low shot from 20 metres and although Inter had the upper hand in the opening half, Rodrygo went close to adding the second for Real when he hit the post just before the interval.

Barella fired over the bar from 12 metres shortly after the break and Luka Jovic saw his shot from a tight angle parried by Samir Handanovic at the other end before referee Felix Brych showed Barella a straight red card in the 64th minute.

The Italy midfielder retaliated after he rubbed shoulders with Brazilian Rodrygo by the touchline and crashed into the panel boards, swinging his arm and leg at his rival while he was on the ground.

Inter were on the back foot and substitute Asensio made it 2-0 in the 79th minute with a sublime effort from the edge of the penalty area, curling in a shot which crashed into the back of the net off the post.

Shakthar Donetsk 1 Sheriff 1

Sheriff Tiraspol ended their Champions League campaign by avoiding a fourth successive defeat when Boban Nikolov’s last-gasp strike earned them a 1-1 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk in Group D on Tuesday.

The Moldovan side started the group phase with two shock victories and although they could not continue that form in Europe’s premier club competition, they have at least booked a spot in the Europa League last 32.

They looked to be heading towards another loss after Fernando’s opening goal three minutes before halftime, only for Nikolov to salvage a point three minutes into stoppage time with a shot from close range.

Sheriff finished third in Group D with seven points, eight behind Real Madrid and three adrift of Inter Milan, with Shakhtar bottom on two points.

Ajax 4 Sporting Lisbon 2

Sebastien Haller kept up his scoring streak to help Ajax Amsterdam end the Champions League group stage with a 100 per cent record as they beat Sporting Lisbon 4-2 at the Johan Cruyff Arena on Tuesday.

Haller became only the second player after Cristiano Ronaldo in 2017-18 to score in each game of the six-match group phase as he tucked away an eighth-minute penalty to take his tally in this year’s competition to 10.

Sporting equalised through Nuno Santos in the 22nd minute but Brazilian Antony restored the Dutch side’s lead just before halftime after a horror defensive error by the visitors.

David Neres extended Ajax’s advantage after 58 minutes and four minutes later Steven Berghuis added the fourth, but Sporting got a 78th minute consolation with Bruno Tabata’s thunderous side-footed shot off the underside of the crossbar.

Ajax topped Group C with a maximum 18 points while the Portuguese champions, who had already been confirmed runners-up, finished with nine, using the last group match to give several young players a first run-out in European competition.

The match was played behind closed doors because of Dutch government restrictions imposed following a surge in Covid-19 cases in the Netherlands.