Dhe round of 16 in the soccer Champions League continued to take shape on the penultimate day of the preliminary round. Former winners FC Chelsea (Group E) with national player Kai Havertz, Paris St. Germain after a gala by his star ensemble and Benfica Lisbon (both H) under German coach Roger Schmidt together with Borussia Dortmund made it to teams number six to nine (G) the round of the top 16. As the loser of the day, Juventus Turin failed in the group phase with a 3:4 (1:3) in Lisbon.
Cup winners RB Leipzig were prevented from advancing early in Group F by Shakhtar Donetsk with a 1-1 (0-1) draw at Celtic Glasgow. Michailo Mudrik kept the Ukrainians in the running for a place in the round of 16 with his equalizer (58th) after the Scots had taken the lead through Georgios Giakoumakis (34th).
Chelsea won Group E at Austrian champion Red Bull Salzburg 2-1 (1-0). Havertz scored to win 19 minutes after the break. For the former Leverkusen player, the goal was his first goal of the season in Europe’s premier club. After Mateo Kovacic (23′) gave the English the lead, Chikwubuike Adamu (49′) brought Salzburg a temporary equaliser.
In the duel between Chelsea’s group opponents, AC Milan put themselves in pole position for the race for second place in the round of 16 with a 4-0 (1-0) win at Dynamo Zagreb and at the same time helped Chelsea to win the group. Through Matteo Gabbia (39′), Rafael Leao (50′), Olivier Giroud (59′) and an own goal by the Zagreb team (69′), the Rossoneri achieved their clear victory.
PSG with a clear victory
Dortmund’s rival FC Sevilla struggled in vain for a long time in the game to preserve their chances of the round of 16 for the ultimately worthless victory. After Youssef En-Nesyri (61′) put Dortmund’s rivals in the lead, Isco (88′) and Gonzalo Montiel (90’+2′) eliminated all doubts about success in the closing stages, before the Danes even received a red card against Davit Choscholawa (90+5) were decimated.
In Group H, too, all the dice have already been cast. PSG celebrated a clear victory against Haifa thanks to their brilliant stars Lionel Messi (19th and 45th), Kylian Mbappe (32nd and 64th) and Neymar (35th). An own goal by the guests (67th) and Carlos Soler (84th) set the final chords under a lavish football evening. Haifa’s double goalscorer Abdoulaye Seck (38th and 50th) was only able to shorten twice.
Shortly after kick-off there was a risk of a scandal when the German referee Felix Zwayer (Berlin) interrupted the match for a few minutes because smoke bombs and firecrackers had been set off. After the restart, the game went on without any further disruptions worth mentioning.
Without the former national player Julian Draxler (muscle injury), Lisbon played the Turnin guests against the wall before the break. Before the break, Anotonio Silva (17′), Joao Mario (28′, penalty kick) and Rafa Silva (35′) created a supposedly reassuring lead when Moise Kean (21′) conceded a goal, which Rafa Silva (50′) again gained. ) initially expanded. In the closing stages, however, goals from Arkadiusz Milik (77′) and former Schalke player Weston McKennie (79′) helped Juve to catch up and made Schmidt’s team tremble again.
Before the fifth round, Real Madrid, England’s champions Manchester City as well as the German record champions Bayern Munich, the Belgian representative FC Brugge and the Italian SSC Napoli had already qualified for the round of the top 16.
