The final round of games in the Champions League group stages took place on Wednesday night. Here is the pick of the action:
CSKA Moscow shock European champions
European champions Real Madrid suffered a shock 3-0 home defeat by Russian side CSKA Moscow at the Bernabeu. The defeat was the home side’s heaviest European defeat on home soil.
Los Blancos hit the bar through Marcos Asensio on 24 minutes. However, CSKA took control of the match opening the scoring on 37 minutes. Arnor Sigurdsson played the ball to Fedor Chalov on the edge of the box and the forward found the top corner to give the visitors an unexpected lead.
The Russian visitors doubled their lead just before half-time. Thibaut Courtois saved a Mario Fernandes effort, but Georgi Schennikov was on hand to score from the rebound.
The much-changed home side struggled to fashion much of note in the attacking third and CSKA made it three on 73 minutes, as Sigurdsson fired through a host of bodies past Courtois to complete one of the most remarkable results of this season’s competition.
Despite winning both their group games against the European champions, CSKA exited the competition and also failed to finish in third place after Viktoria Plzen recorded a 2-1 a victory over Roma.
Citizens top group with victory over Hoffenheim
Manchester City sealed top spot in Group F by recording a 2-1 home win over Hoffenheim at the Etihad Stadium.
The visitors struck first in Manchester on 16 minutes. Aymeric Laporte fouled Benjamin Hubner in the penalty area and former Leicester striker Andrej Kramaric made no mistake from the penalty spot.
City came close to equalising through Gabriel Jesus, who hit the post before Argentinian centre-back Nicolas Otamendi headed against the crossbar.
The Citizens did level the scores in first-half stoppage-time, though. German international Leroy Sane curled a superb free-kick into the top corner from 30 yards out to take the home side in level at the break.
Sane also scored the winner just after the hour mark, finishing well after good combination play with Raheem Sterling. The victory ensured that Pep Guardiola’s side topped the group. City remain the favourites to win the competition this season. Meanwhile Hoffenheim finished bottom of the group and missed out on dropping down into the Europa League.
Red Devils miss out on top spot in Group H
Manchester United produced a lacklustre display to suffer a 2-1 defeat at Valencia in Group H. The defeat meant that United missed out on top spot by two points after group leaders Juventus suffered a shock 2-1 defeat ay Young Boys in the other game.
The home side took the lead on 17 minutes, as Carlos Soler hit a low effort across goal to beat Sergio Romero in the visitor’s goal. United were two goals down just after the break, as Phil Jones knocked the ball past Romero from the edge of the area.
United did get a consolation goal with three minutes left on the clock, as Marcus Rashford headed home, but it was too little too late for Jose Mourinho men.
They had missed the chance of topping the group, and in the process potentially having an easier tie in the last 16 of the competition. Valencia will now drop down into the Europa League after finishing third in the group.
Wednesday night’s other results
Viktoria Plzen 2-1 Roma
Ajax 3-3 Bayern Munich
Young Boys 2-1 Juventus
Benfica 1-0 AEK Athens
Shakhtar Donetsk 1-1 Lyon
Who recorded the win of the evening in Wednesday’s Champions League matches?
