Published on :
Three additional clubs won their ticket to the knockout stages of the Champions League on Wednesday: Naples, Bayern Munich and the surprising FC Bruges.
Group A: Naples impresses and composts its ticket
The fourth success in four matches for Napoli, who dominated Ajax Amsterdam 4-2, allows the Italian club to secure their ticket to the round of 16. Everything is going well for the Neapolitans, leaders of Serie A and undefeated in all competitions.
In great difficulty in the Premier League (10th), Liverpool reassured itself by crushing Glasgow Rangers at Ibrox Stadium (7-1) with a hat-trick from Mohamed Salah and a double from Roberto Firmino. The finalist of the last edition, 2nd in the group, now has a good margin in front of Ajax (6 points) two days from the end.
68′ – Salah comes on ➡️
76′ – Salah scores ⚽️
80′ – Salah scores ⚽️
81′ – Salah scores ⚽️The Egyptian King ????
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 12, 2022
Group B: Bruges for history
Since the creation of the Champions League in 1992 on the ashes of the ancient European Cup of champion clubs, FC Bruges had never managed to reach the knockout stage. It’s finally done after the draw brought back from the lawn of Atletico Madrid (0-0).
Finalist of the C1 in 1978, the Belgian club can now aim for first place in the group since it is four lengths ahead of its runner-up, FC Porto.
With two penalties signed by Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi, the Portuguese went to win at Bayer Leverkusen (3-0), which did not experience an electroshock, a week after the arrival at the controls of the ex-international Spaniard Xabi Alonso.
Group C: Bayern at the top, Barça is afraid
The draw snatched on the wire at Camp Nou by FC Barcelona and Robert Lewandowski against Inter Milan (3-3) does the business of Bayern Munich, who won their sesame for the round of 16 after their successful trip to the Czech Republic against Viktoria Plzen (4-2), with a great night Goretzka, author of two goals.
On the other hand, nothing is going well for Barça on the European scene. Third in the group behind Bayern and Inter, the Catalan club no longer has its destiny in its hands and can tremble, an early elimination could have serious financial consequences for the Blaugrana.
Group D: OM relaunched but a very open pool
After years of setbacks in the Champions League, Marseille is coming back to life. Already a clear winner last week over Sporting Portugal at the Vélodrome (4-1), OM did it again on the lawn of the Lisbon club (2-0) and can seriously dream of qualifying.
If they had partly taken advantage of the mistakes of the opposing goalkeeper at home, Igor Tudor’s troops immediately seemed technically superior to the Portuguese, who ended up scuttling themselves with the penalty conceded by Ricardo Esgaio for a big fault on Amine Harit , synonymous with a second yellow card and exclusion for the Sporting player. Matteo Guendouzi transformed the offering (20th) before Alexis Sanchez doubled the bet (30th).
The Portuguese even finished the match at nine after another red collected by Pedro Gonçalves (60th).
Here is OM second, a small point behind Tottenham, who overcame Frankfurt (3-2) thanks in particular to a brace from Son. However, the situation remains very uncertain in this group since the Spurs are only three points ahead of Frankfurt, last.