Titel defenders FC Chelsea and Manchester United reached the round of 16 of the Champions League ahead of schedule. The Londoners won the top game in Group H against the already qualified Juventus Turin with 4-0 (1-0) on Tuesday evening. Trevoh Chalobah (25th minute), Reece James (56th), Callum Hudson-Odoi (58th) and substitute Timo Werner (90th + 5) scored the goals for coach Thomas Tuchel’s team. The German international Antonio Rüdiger was involved in the creation of three goals.
Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo had previously also led Manchester United into the second round of the premier class in the first game after coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was eliminated. The Portuguese scored his sixth goal in the fifth group game in a 2-0 (0-0) game against Europa League winners Villarreal. Former Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho, whom interim coach Michael Carrick called on from the start, scored for United for the first time in the final minute. In the second game of the group, the Young Boys Bern and Atalanta Bergamo separated after a turbulent final phase 3: 3 (1: 1).
Barcelona is having a hard time
Meanwhile, FC Barcelona is also struggling under new coach Xavi Hernandez. After the narrow 1-0 draw in the city derby against Espanyol at the weekend, the Catalans couldn’t get past a goalless draw against Benfica Lisbon. With that, Barcelona, two points before Lisbon, still have to tremble to get ahead. On the final day of the preliminary round, Barcelona will face FC Bayern Munich away from home, while Benfica will face the bottom line Dynamo Kiev at home.
FC Salzburg also missed early qualification for the round of 16. At OSC Lille, the team of coach Matthias Jaissle lost 1-0 (0-1) and is now one point behind the French in second place in Group G. In the group final, it is against Sevilla FC (2-0 against the VfL Wolfsburg), which in turn is one point behind Salzburg.
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