Sporting is part of the group of eight teams already qualified for the Champions League round of 16along with Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Tottenham, Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester City.
Arsenal finished the league phase with a perfect record: eight wins in as many games. The Gunners, moreover, were the only team that won all their games and, therefore, finished in first place, with 24 points.
In this final round, the Londoners received and beat the Kazakhs from Kairat Almaty, by 3-2. Viktor Gyökeres paved the way for Arsenal’s triumph with a goal after just three minutes.
The Portuguese Jorginho still equalized, with a penalty (7m), but the Gunners scored two more goals before the break (Havertz and Martinelli, in the 15th and 36th minutes).
Bayern Munich, which accumulated six wins and one defeat, closed the league phase with 21 points, in second place. This Wednesday, the Bavarians won by 2-1 in the PSV stronghold.
Liverpool thrashed Qarabag for 6-0 at Anfield, Tottenham went to Frankfurt to win by 2-0while Barcelona turned around Copenhagen and triumphed by 4-1 no Camp Nou.
Manchester City, with Matheus Nunes and Bernardo Silva in the eleven, beat Galatasaray at home, by 2-0. Chelsea, in turn, won by 3-2 in Naples.
Among the teams that will compete in the play-offs is Benfica, but also Real Madrid, which with the defeat at Luz (4-2) dropped out of the direct qualification zone. The same happened with PSG, who drew against Newcastle (1-1). Ousmane Dembélé missed an early penalty, but Vitinha scored a great goal in the eighth minute. However, just before half-time, Joe Willock (45+2m) scored the equalizing goal, in a match that marked João Neves’ return to the competition.
Teams qualified for the round of 16:
Arsenal, Bayern Munique, Liverpool, Tottenham, Barcelona, Chelsea, SPORTING e Manchester City.
Teams that will compete in the play-offs:
Real Madrid, Inter Milan, PSG, Newcastle, Juventus, Atlético de Madrid, Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, Olympiakos, Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Monaco, Qarabag, Bodo/Glimt and BENFICA.
Eliminated teams:
Marcel, Pafos, Saint-Gilloise Union, PSV, Athletic Bilbao, Night, Copenhaga, Ajax, Frankfurt, Slavia, and Cairat Almaty.
*already eliminated at the start of the last round
Keep reading
