theScore looks at the best outings from the Champions League’s penultimate matchday.

Wissam Ben Yedder – Sevilla

Wissam Ben Yedder was Sevilla’s saviour in a match that Liverpool looked destined to win after jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first half. The French forward, who struggled to make an impact in the opening 45 minutes, got the comeback bid started with a goal just six minutes into the second frame.

Less than 10 minutes later, Ben Yedder cut the deficit to one with his strike from the penalty spot. Sevilla eventually completed the comeback with a dramatic injury-time equaliser.

Lorenzo Insigne – Napoli

After playing an instrumental role in Napoli’s victory over AC Milan over the weekend, Lorenzo Insigne maintained his superb form against a Shakhtar Donetsk side that struggled to contain the Italian.

The first 45 minutes didn’t produce much to get excited about, but that quickly changed in the second half when Insigne pirouetted around a trio of defenders before unleashing an unstoppable strike into the top corner from 25 yards out.

Timo Werner – RB Leipzig

RB Leipzig’s first taste of Champions League football has been a mixed bag through five matches. But, thanks to Timo Werner, the Bundesliga side will enter the final matchday with a chance to progress after Tuesday’s decisive victory over AS Monaco, which also ended the French team’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage a year after progressing to the semi-finals.

Werner became the team’s leading scorer in the tournament after his brace early on in the first half. With the result in the bag, manager Ralph Hasenhuttl removed the young forward from the match early as RB Leipzig cruised to a 4-1 win. Leipzig will play group leaders Besiktas on the final matchday, while hoping Monaco can get a result against FC Porto, who leads the German side on goal differential.

Neymar – Paris Saint-Germain

For a period in the first half, it looked as though Neymar was toying with Celtic players following a series of dazzling dribbles and passes that seemed to bewilder the Scottish side.

Celtic grabbed a first-minute lead on Paris Saint-Germain, but it was never expected to last. Neymar made sure of that when he surged into the Celtic box and uncorked a left-footed shot into the far corner of goal. Minutes later, he completed a clever give-and-go to free himself up and once again rifle a left-footed strike into the same spot to give PSG its first lead en route to a 7-1 demolition.

Antoine Griezmann – Atletico Madrid

Elimination beckoned for an Atletico Madrid outfit without a win after four matches in Group C. That all changed Wednesday at the Wanda Metropolitano, courtesy of Antoine Griezmann’s stunning strike to put Atletico up on AS Roma.

Atletico was just over 20 minutes away from bowing out the competition with a match to spare until the French star got on the end of Angel Correa’s cross and produced an incredible overhead kick that just about pierced the back of the net.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady expressed sympathy for New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning being removed from his starting spot as part of the team’s plan to evaluate other options.

“I have nothing but the most respect for him and everything he’s achieved and accomplished in his career,” Brady said in an interview with Westwood One Radio that will air before Thursday night’s game between the Cowboys and Redskins.

“Obviously, being on the other side of two of those Super Bowl losses to an Eli Manning-led team, I just have so much respect for his dependability, for his consistency, for his toughness. You know that’s really everything you want in an NFL player, and I think Eli has always provided that for the team. So I think it’s a pretty unfortunate situation.”

Asked how players across the NFL react when they hear news like this about Manning, Brady told host Jim Gray: “I think there’s always these types of situations. As a fan growing up, I mean, to see Joe Montana playing in another uniform, and again, to see Jerry Rice or Ronnie Lott [in another uniform], you know guys that I really looked up to and admired, there’s not many happy endings in sports, and you know that’s just the way it is.

“You always wish for everything to go like a fairy tale, but it doesn’t. Michael Jordan played for the Washington Wizards. I mean, who would have ever believed that? And that’s just pro sports.

The Giants (2-9) gave Manning the option to start the first half of their remaining games in order to keep his consecutive-games streak alive, but the QB didn’t want to go that route, in part because of the belief it would tarnish his 210-game streak.

In the interview with Westwood One, Brady was read a list of some of the quarterbacks now starting in the NFL and was asked if the league has a problem at the position.

“That’s a great question, and I would say not many people really knew who I was either when I started. A lot of these young players are trying to develop and grow. They may not be household names like myself or Aaron Rodgers or [Drew] Brees, but we’ve been around for a long time. So it takes time to develop at this position. I certainly wasn’t the player 17 years ago that I am today, but it’s taken a lot of practices and a lot of reps in order to develop. And that’s usually what it takes most quarterbacks: many years to master their craft.”

Thiago Alcantara’s chances of featuring in next summer’s World Cup could be in danger after the midfielder picked up a thigh injury during Bayern Munich’s 2-1 victory over Anderlecht on Wednesday.

Thiago was replaced by James Rodriguez after a seemingly innocuous challenge. However, the Spanish international was visibly upset and immediately asked to be substituted.

Sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic was the bearer of bad news when he revealed that Thiago could be out for several months when he was forced to limp off the pitch in the 44th minute.

Bayern manager Jupp Heynckes later confirmed that Thiago suffered a “heavy thigh strain” and is expected to miss an extended period of time.

Thiago will likely undergo scans to discover the severity of the injury before an announcement regarding his return is made.

If the seven-month prognosis is correct, Thiago might struggle to regain fitness in time to be selected by the Spanish national team ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, which kicks off in June.

Meanwhile, Arjen Robben was also forced out of the match with an injury, but Heynckes said that the knock is “not too serious.”

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Clay Matthews’ groin injury, which kept him out of last Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh, afforded him the opportunity to spend more time around Aaron Rodgers.

And not just for another State Farm commercial.

The Green Bay Packers linebacker got an up-close look at the quarterback’s rehab from his broken collarbone and came away with this revelation: “I think we probably should have kept him off IR.”

That doesn’t mean Rodgers’ collarbone would be healed in time for him to play any earlier than Week 15 at Carolina — the earliest game he could play in, based on the injured reserve rules that state a player must sit out at least eight games before a team uses one of its two designated-to-return spots.

“The way he’s coming along, some of the balls he’s throwing, accuracy-wise, everything a quarterback has to do is pretty remarkable,” Matthews added.

Rodgers, who on Sunday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh threw in public for the first time since he broke his right clavicle on Oct. 15, could return to practice by the end of this week. But the Packers have not made an announcement about whether that will happen. The earliest he could practice would be Friday — six weeks from the date he went on IR — but the Packers don’t practice on Fridays, so any return wouldn’t happen until Saturday.

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