Barcelona and Dortmund gave us one of the best matches in this year’s League Phase Champions Leaguewith Ferran Torres entering the match and with two goals giving victory to the Catalans (3-2). Manchester City continues to be in a difficult position, after its defeat (2-0) at the home of Juventus. “Doom” at 13 points with a six-point tie, after the completion of the 6thher competition.
The last matchday of the Leagua Phase of the Champions League for 2024 has been completed and two more are now left, which will take place in January, to complete this phase. Barcelona is the only team that follows the leader – and absolute with 6/6, Liverpool – leaving with a “big” victory from the home of Dortmund (2-3) (only the “Blaugrana” are 2nd with 15 points). Ferran Torres entered the match, scored his first two goals in the competition and gave the visitors the “three points”.
Juventus took advantage of Manchester City’s tragic “moon” and beat them 2-0 in Turin to climb to 11 points and 13th place. At 22or position, the “citizens” “fell” with 8 points, having 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses.
Two goals from Saka saw Arsenal beat Monaco 3-0 in London to move up to 3or position in the standings, reaching the 13 points that five other teams have (Bayer Leverkusen, Aston Villa, Inter, Brest and Lille).
4th win in a row for Milan. The “rosoneri” were forced by Red Star at the “San Siro”, but found a winning goal from Abraham in the 87th minute and kept on a “track” of eight (12the with 12 points).
“Alive” to find themselves in the intermediate phase of the Champions League (places 9-17) Feyenoord remained with a comfortable 4-2 over Sparta Prague, with the Dutch leading 3-0 at halftime. The chances of the Czechs to enter the round of 24 decreased even more.
Also, Stuttgart with the upset over Young Boys (5-1) is kept in the playoffs, as it is marginally below the 24th place, on a par with the disappointing Paris Saint-Germain.
With Vangelis Pavlidis in their starting line-up, Benfica drew 0-0 with Bologna and missed a great opportunity to get into… the top eight.
Dortmund – Barcelona 2-3
Barcelona entered the match determined to win. Dortmund could not keep possession of the ball, they were under early pressure in their frames and tried to “hit” on counterattacks. Lewandowski, Yamal and Rafinha had good chances in the first 15 minutes of the match, with Sabicer the one who worried the Catalan defense the most. The home team saw Kobel on hand, in the opportunities that the “Blaugranas” made until the end of the first 45 minutes.
Dortmund scored at the start of the replay (50′) but the goal was disallowed for offside. Three minutes later, Rafinha scored with a cross, with 0-1 getting VAR approval. The Westphalians did not give up and in the 58th minute they won a penalty! Girassi took over the execution and tied the match (1-1).
Barcelona went on the attack, looking for the winning goal. In the 75th minute and shortly after entering the match, Ferran Torres made it 1-2, after Kobel’s unstable save. The match, however, had more to offer, with Girassi scoring four minutes later – for the second time in the match – and making it 2-2 (6 goals in the tournament).
The match got “fire”, with both teams missing opportunities and Ferran Torres “freezing” “Westphalia” in the 85′ and shaping the final 2-3.
Juventus – Manchester City 2-0
Manchester City tried to keep possession of the ball and not give Juventus any space. However, it was the “veccia signora” who touched the goal in the 20th minute, with Kenan Yildiz’s effort sending the ball narrowly wide.
Manchester City pressed for a goal. In the 40th minute, Haaland saw Di Gregorio make an excellent save on his shot. The “citizens” entered strongly in the replay but conceded the goal in the 53rd minute, with Vlahovic making it 1-0.
Left with no other option, Manchester City turned the tables on the attack. In the 67th minute, De Bruyne took a long shot, but the ball went just wide. The “citizens” created more phases in the Juventus frames, but they did not panic. In the 75th minute, “Vecchia Signora” reached 2-0 with McKenney’s goal.
Milan – Red Star 2-1
Milan’s dominance paid off shortly before the end of the first half. it was Leao who made it 1-0, to be followed at 45+5′ by the great intervention of the goalkeeper of Red Star on a header by Yussuf Fofana.
In its first “serious” chance in the game (67′), Red Star managed to make it 1-1 with Nemanja Radonic’s goal! Tammy Abraham – also receiving the VAR check – scored in the 87th minute, making the final 2-1 in favor of the Rossoneri.
Arsenal – Monaco 3-0
Arsenal played a convincing first half and in the 34th minute managed to send the ball into Monaco’s net, with the sack making it 1-0. The… job for the “gunners” was completed in the 78th minute, with Saka taking advantage of a mistake by the opposing defense and scoring for the second time in the match. The final 3-0 was made by Havertz in the 88th minute.
Benfica – Bologna 0-0
Benfica entered the match strongly and in the 2nd minute saw Pavlidis send the ball into the Blonia net, a goal that was disallowed for offside. The Portuguese had a clear upper hand in the first half, but were unable to manage a goal. In the 43′ Skorupski impressively blocked Di Maria’s shot, while in the 45+1′ Alvaro Carreras saw his attempt countered by a defender’s tackle.
Bologna did not show anything special offensively in the match. Benfica pushed for the goal in the replay and had some important moments. In one of them (68′) Pavlidis caught a shot from inside the wide area, but saw Skorupski drive the ball over the posts.
Feyenoord – Sparta Prague 4-2
Feyenoord had an explosive start to the match. It wasn’t until the 8th minute that Trauner opened the scoring and with the completion of 10 minutes of the game, Paisao increased the score to 2-0. The… walk of the Dutch continued, with Musanna making it 3-0 in the 31st minute. Sparta Prague went into the break trailing 3-1 in the 43rd minute with Rahmani’s goal.
Feyenoord returned to scoring in the second half, with Santiago Tomas making it 4-1. The Dutch had an own goal to “add” to the game, with Tomas Billen shaping the final 4-2 in the 79th minute.
Sturgard – Young Boys 5-1
Young Boys managed to surprise Stuttgart, opening the scoring in the 6th minute with Lakomi. The home team played aggressively, they saw in the 22nd minute Demirovic send the ball – with a pass from the area – just over the crossbar but in the 25th minute they reached 1-1 with Angelo Stiller.
The turning point for Stuttgart came in the second half. In the 53′, Milot turned the match around (2-1), only for Furih to come in the 61′ and give the home team the “air” of two goals (3-1).
Having an ideal mentality, Stuttgart scored two more goals. In the 66th minute, Wagnoman made it 4-1, while ten minutes later, Keitel made the final 5-1.
Lille and Atlético are approaching qualification
In the matches that “crossed” at 19:45, Lille found it dark against Sturm Graz, but managed to get the victory (3-2) and is preparing to “lock” the qualification to the next phase of the Champions League. Atlético Madrid, who “cleaned” Slovan Bratislava 3-1 in Spain, came close.
The results of Wednesday’s matches (11.12.2024)
Atletico Madrid – Slovan Bratislava 3-1
Lille – Sturm Graz 3-2
Milan – Red Star 2-1
Arsenal – Monaco 3-0
Dortmund – Barcelona 2-3
Feyenoord – Sparta Prague 4-2
Juventus – Manchester City 2-0
Benfica – Bologna 0-0
Sturgard – Young Boys 5-1
The results of Tuesday’s matches (10.12.2024)
Girona – Liverpool 0-1
Dinamo Zagreb – Celtic 0-0
Atalanta – Real Madrid 2-3
Bayer Leverkusen – Inter 1-0
Bruges – Sporting Lisbon 2-1
Salzburg – Paris Saint-Germain 0-3
Shakhtar – Bayern Munich 1-5
Leipzig – Aston Villa 2-3
Brest – Eindhoven 1-0
The League Phase standings of the Champions League
- Liverpool (13-1) 18
- Barcelona (21-7) 15
- Arsenal (11-2) 13
- Leverkusen (12-5) 13
- Aston Villa (9-3) 13
- Inter (7-1) 13
- Brest (10-6) 13
- Lille (10-7) 13
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- Dortmund (18-9) 12
- Bayern Munich (17-8) 12
- Atletico Madrid (14-10) 12
- Milan (12-9) 12
- Atalanta (13-4) 11
- Juventus (9-5) 11
- Benfica (10-7) 10
- Monaco (12-10) 10
- Sporting (11-9) 10
- Feyenoord (14-15) 10
- Bruges (6-8) 10
- Real Madrid (12-11) 9
- Celtic (10-10) 9
- Manchester City (13-9) 8
- Eindhoven (10-8) 8
- Dinamo Zagreb (10-15) 8
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- Paris Saint-Germain (6-6) 7
- Stuttgart (9-12) 7
- Shakhtar Donetsk (5-13) 4
- Sparta Prague (7-18) 4
- Sturm Graz (4-9) 3
- Girona (4-10) 3
- Red Star (10-19) 3
- Salzburg (3-18) 3
- Bologna (1-7) 2
- Leipzig (6-13) 0
- Slovan Bratislava (5-21) 0
- Young Boys (3-22) 0