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EDITOR PICKS

  • Watch: Carvajal's header delivers killer blow for Madrid in UCL final

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • Real Madrid beat Dortmund to win 15th European Cup

Soccer

Field, seeding finalized for Champions League last-16 draw

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Seeding for the Champions League round of 16 was finalized following a topsy-turvy conclusion to the group stage on Wednesday, as Paris Saint-Germain narrowly avoided a shocking early exit to reach the knockout phase.

PSG came from a goal down to earn a 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund. That result, coupled with AC Milan’s comeback victory over Newcastle United, helped the French giants finish second in the ultra-competitive Group F ahead of the Italian outfit.

Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid beat Lazio to win Group E, while FC Porto secured second place in Group H with a chaotic 5-3 triumph over Shakhtar Donetsk.

Wednesday’s results solidified the field for the last-16 draw, which is slated for Dec. 18 at 6 a.m. ET in Nyon, Switzerland.

The eight group winners will be paired with the eight runners-up. Teams from the same domestic league can’t meet in the round of 16. The same is true of teams who were in the same group for the opening round of the competition. Matchup restrictions are lifted beginning in the quarterfinals.

Here’s a look at the seeding ahead of Monday’s draw:

Group winners (seeded)

  • Bayern Munich (Group A)
  • Arsenal (Group B)
  • Real Madrid (Group C)
  • Real Sociedad (Group D)
  • Atletico Madrid (Group E)
  • Borussia Dortmund (Group F)
  • Manchester City (Group G)
  • Barcelona (Group H)

Group runners-up (unseeded)

  • FC Copenhagen (Group A)
  • PSV Eindhoven (Group B)
  • Napoli (Group C)
  • Inter Milan (Group D)
  • Lazio (Group E)
  • Paris Saint-Germain (Group F)
  • RB Leipzig (Group G)
  • FC Porto (Group H)

The Champions League resumes on Feb. 13 with last-16 first-leg matches.

Meanwhile, the third-placed teams from each group drop into the Europa League knockout playoffs, where they’ll be paired with the second-placed finishers from the group stage of that tournament.

Dropping into Europa League

  • Galatasaray (Group A)
  • Lens (Group B)
  • Braga (Group C)
  • Benfica (Group D)
  • Feyenoord (Group E)
  • AC Milan (Group F)
  • Young Boys (Group G)
  • Shakhtar Donetsk (Group H)

Sides that finished last in their respective Champions League groups – including Manchester United, Sevilla, Newcastle, and Celtic – have been eliminated from European competition altogether for the season.

Soccer

Manchester United crash out of Europe after surrendering to Bayern

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Manchester United hardly put up a fight.

Erik ten Hag’s troubled side said goodbye to European competition after losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

United created precious little in a game it had to win to have any hope of advancing. Having conceded 15 goals in six group-stage matches, the Red Devils ultimately finished last in Group A behind Copenhagen and Galatasaray.

“We didn’t lose it today. That’s clear. We had some good performances. We also made some mistakes, some individual errors from more players, and yet it’s not good enough,” Ten Hag told TNT Sports. “I think today the performance was very good and we didn’t deserve to lose but we lost the game.”

Copenhagen punched their ticket to the knockout round with a 1-0 win over Galatasaray. As a third-place finisher, the Turkish side gets to continue its European adventure in the Europa League.

W-D-L GD Pts
1 Bayern Munich 5-1-0 6 16
2 Copenhagen 2-2-2 0 8
3 Galatasaray 1-2-3 -3 5
4 Manchester United 1-1-4 -3 4

It’s the second time in four years United have suffered a Champions League group-stage exit and the second time the club has ever finished dead last in a group.

The defeat is certain to heap more pressure on Ten Hag as he battles reports of a dressing room divide. United also face a daunting trip to Anfield, where first-placed Liverpool await them in the Premier League on Sunday.

United’s Champions League campaign never really took off. After falling 4-3 to Bayern on Matchday 1, the three-time European champions blew separate one-goal leads in an eventual 3-2 loss at home to Galatasaray before coughing up a 2-0 advantage in a 4-3 capitulation away to Copenhagen. United surrendered another 2-0 lead in a 3-3 draw with Galatasaray on Nov. 29.

Entering the final matchday one point behind Copenhagen and Galatasaray – and with injuries to Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez, Christian Eriksen, and Mason Mount – United needed a win and their two group opponents to draw to reach the knockout stage. But the team seemed resigned to losing from the opening whistle. It managed just a single shot on target all game and ultimately lost on a goal to Kingsley Coman in the 70th minute.

Making matters worse, defenders Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw exited just before and at half-time with apparent injuries. Maguire, named the Premier League’s player of the month for November, tried to play through a groin injury before signalling for a substitution, while Shaw seemed to favor his hamstring.

United are now 11-1-12 in all competitions this season.

Copenhagen showed much more mettle in their contest, hanging on to win after match-winner Lukas Lerager was sent off in the 90th minute.

The Danish side last played in the Champions League knockout round during the 2010-11 season, when it lost 2-0 on aggregate to Chelsea in the round of 16.

Soccer

Barca reach Champions League knockouts for 1st time in 3 seasons

Barcelona came from behind to beat Porto 2-1 on Tuesday and reach the Champions League knock-out rounds for the first time in three seasons.

Brazilian winger Pepe sent Porto ahead but Barcelona’s Portuguese duo Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix both netted to turn the game on its head.

The former Benfica pair pounced against their old club’s rivals to ensure Xavi Hernandez’s team would not face a humiliating group stage exit as they did in both of the last two seasons.

Defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk in Hamburg in their previous European match made Barca nervous, with poor performances domestically adding to their jitters.

However despite conceding first, Cancelo quickly levelled and he set up Felix in the second half for the winner to delight Barca’s fans at the Olympic Stadium on the city’s Montjuic hill.

“It was a final and we won it … we’ve put the club in the last 16, which is where it deserves to be,” Cancelo told Movistar.

“When results don’t come, your confidence is not the same.”

Xavi shook up his side with Cancelo switching to left-back and Oriol Romeu dropped for Ilkay Gundogan after Barcelona’s 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, the latest in a string of sub-par displays.

Inaki Pena kept his place in goal for the Catalans while first choice Marc-Andre ter Stegen is out with back pain and made several saves as both sides racked up good chances.

Porto’s Pepe, whistled by Barca fans because of his Real Madrid past, became the fifth oldest player in Champions League history at 40 years and 275 days.

The veteran Portuguese centre-back was in the right place at the right time to block Felix’s early effort, after Raphinha tested Diogo Costa with a low drive.

Porto’s Medhi Taremi beat Pena after 25 minutes but the goal was ruled out for offside against the Iranian striker.

The goalkeeper made a solid save to deny Galeno after he burst into life and squeezed a shot off, with pressure mounting on the Spanish champions.

Porto made the breakthrough after 30 minutes, with Brazilian winger Pepe slamming home the rebound after Pena denied Evanilson.

Before Barcelona allowed fear to set in, Cancelo dragged them back level with a fine individual goal.

The former Benfica defender, on loan from Manchester City, cut in from the left to bypass a defender and beat Costa with a confident strike.

High octane

Raphinha flashed a shot tantalisingly wide when Costa gave the ball away on the edge of his own box to Pedri, and Pena thwarted Alan Varela at the other end as the game lurched from one side to the other.

The second half began at the same frantic pace, with Felix cracking a strike off the top of the crossbar.

Ten minutes later the 24-year-old had his goal, exchanging passes with the rampaging Cancelo and carefully slotting home, his first for Barcelona since mid-September.

Raphinha came close twice in quick succession as the Catalans sought to stretch their lead, but although they could not, this time around they still managed to get the job done.

Barca defender Ronald Araujo’s huge fist pump at full-time showed it was with more nerves than it should have been.

Cancelo went off before the end but said it was precautionary, and that he would be fit for the clash against Atletico Madrid on Sunday.

“I am sure I will be there against Atletico Madrid,” he added.

“Now we have to recover and win on Sunday.”

Defeat leaves Porto, second, tied with Shakhtar, third, on nine points — they face each other in the final group game on December 13 in Portugal.

Soccer

Haaland hits 40th UCL goal as Man City fight back to beat Leipzig

Erling Haaland became the fastest player to score 40 Champions League goals as Manchester City came from 2-0 down to beat RB Leipzig 3-2 on Tuesday.

The defending champions were on course for their first European defeat at the Etihad since 2018 when Lois Openda took advantage of shambolic defending to score twice in the first half.

Haaland reduced City’s arrears before goals from Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez secured top spot in Group G.

“The first half was the worst I’ve seen us,” admitted Foden.

“Came out second half, played a lot better and changed the game. This team has got a great mentality for that.”

City have now won 27 of their last 29 Champions League home games since they last tasted defeat.

Leipzig have been regular victims during that run and were humbled 7-0 on their last trip to the Etihad in March.

But Guardiola headed down the tunnel at half-time shaking his head at what he had seen from the European champions.

City dominated possession and territory but were undone by two moments of carelessness from the normally reliable Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias.

The in-form Openda showed his poise after Akanji let the Belgian latch onto a long ball from Leipzig goalkeeper Janis Blaswich to finish past Stefan Ortega.

Haaland uncharacteristically snatched at a great chance to equalise as the Norwegian blasted over and Rico Lewis was also wayward with a clear sight of goal.

But as City camped in the Leipzig half, one more long ball caught out Guardiola’s men as Dias dived in and Openda galloped clear to score his 13th goal of the season.

“We conceded too much defensively. You have to win your duels,” said Guardiola.

“We reacted really well second half and yeah we are first in the group so very satisfied with the reaction.”

Guardiola responded at the break as Nathan Ake replaced Dias.

But it was not until two more changes with the introduction of Jeremy Doku and Alvarez that the comeback commenced.

Alvarez played a part in City’s first goal as he fed Foden, who played in Haaland to net his 40th Champions League goal in just 35 appearances on 54 minutes.

Foden then stroked home Josep Gvardiol’s pass from the edge of the box 20 minutes from time.

Leipzig thought they had retaken the lead when Liverpool loanee Fabio Carvalho slotted into the far corner, only to be flagged offside.

And City had the final say when Doku found Foden at the by-line and his low cross was controlled and finished by Alvarez for his fourth goal in as many Champions League appearances this season.

“Jeremy changed the rhythm of our game and Julian close the box is a special player,” added Guardiola.

“Phil, Julian and Erling have an incredible sense of (how to score a) goal.”

Leipzig had already secured their place in the last 16 but now risk facing the likes of Barcelona or Real Madrid in the knockout stages.

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Soccer

  • Watch: Carvajal's header delivers killer blow for Madrid in UCL final

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • Real Madrid beat Dortmund to win 15th European Cup

  • Police arrest dozens of ticket-less fans at Wembley final

  • Dortmund boss Terzic lauds 'brilliant' Sancho after UCL defeat

  • Modric, Kroos among Madrid stars to make history with latest UCL triumph

  • Madrid's inevitability is a superpower no rival can match

  • Transfer window preview: 50 players who could move this summer

  • Vinicius Jr. named Champions League Player of the Season

“If you think about it, I've never held a job in my life. I went from being an NFL player to a coach to a broadcaster. I haven't worked a day in my life.”
-John Madden


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