Man City and RB Leipzig become the first teams to reach the knockout stages of the 2023/24 Champions League with two matches early.
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| After 4 consecutive wins, Man City soon have a ticket to the knockout round of the 2023/24 Champions League. (Source: Getty Images) |
In the morning match on November 8, defending champion Man City continued to show their strength with an easy 3-0 victory when welcoming Young Boys at the Etihad Stadium.
Erling Haaland (double) and Phil Foden scored together to bring victory to coach Pep Guardiola's team.
Erling Haaland was the player who broke the score balance when he successfully executed a penalty in the 23rd minute.
Just before the first half ended, Phil Foden confidently broke through the penalty area and finished into the far corner to double the gap for the home team.
In the second half, the match situation did not change when Man City was still the dominant team and raised the score to 3-0 in the 51st minute after Haaland's beautiful long-range shot.
Two minutes later, Man City had the advantage in numbers again when Sandro Lauper was sent off for a rough foul on Ake. However, the home team still did not have any more goals.
However, the 3-0 result was enough for coach Pep Guardiola and his team to enter the knockout round of this season's Champions League with two matches early.
After 4 matches played in Group G, Man City has won 12 absolute points, 11 points ahead of the two bottom teams, Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys, while there are only two more matches left in the group stage.
Along with Man City, RB Leipzig also did not miss the opportunity to participate early in the knockout round.
In this match, the Bundesliga representative had an important 2-1 victory in their away match at Red Star Belgrade.
Xaver Schlager shone with two assists for Xavi Simons and Lois Openda to score and bring victory to Leipzig. Meanwhile, Red Star Belgrade's goal came from an own goal by Benjamin Henrichs.
With this victory, RB Leipzig has 9 points, 8 points more than the two remaining opponents, Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys. This gap is enough to send Leipzig straight to the next round.
In contrast to Man City and Leipzig, Barcelona also had the opportunity to qualify for the round of 16 with two matches early. However, the Catalan team was unable to take advantage of it.
In the rematch against Shakhtar Donetsk at Volksparkstadion Stadium (Hamburg, Germany), Barcelona is the team that is rated higher and does not have to bear too much pressure from having to play away.
However, coach Xavi Hernandez's team still had to return home empty-handed after losing 0-1 to the team from Ukraine.
Danylo Sikan scored the only goal in the 40th minute to hand Barcelona their first defeat in the Champions League this season.
In the remaining match of Group H, Porto did not miss the opportunity when they won easily 2-0 when welcoming the weakest opponent in the group, Royal Antwerp.
Evanilson broke the balance in the 32nd minute from the penalty spot, but it was not until injury time that the home team could rest assured thanks to Pepe's decisive goal.
With this result, after 4 matches, Barcelona and Porto are both on 9 points. The Spanish representative temporarily leads the table thanks to a better head-to-head record against Porto.
However, Barcelona and Porto are under a lot of pressure in the race for the ticket to continue when the gap between the two teams and Shakhtar Donetsk is only 3 points.
In this group, Royal Antwerp was officially eliminated after not being able to get any points after 4 matches. This is not too surprising because the Belgian representative is too weak compared to the rest.
In the next round, Barcelona and Porto will have to fight at Olimpico Lluis Companys in a match that will determine the top spot in the group as well as the ticket to the next round.
Meanwhile, Shakhtar Donetsk will likely get 3 more points when they only have to face weak opponent Royal Antwerp at Volksparkstadion Stadium (Hamburg, Germany).
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