Manchester City’s crisis continued with a 2-0 defeat away to Juventus in the Champions League, while Pep Guardiola’s old club Barcelona beat Borussia Dortmund to clinch a spot in the knockout stage.
On Wednesday, Pep Guardiola’s former team Barcelona defeated Borussia Dortmund to secure a place in the knockout stage of Europe’s top club competition, while Manchester City’s crisis continued with a 2-0 loss to Juventus away in the Champions League. When goalie Ederson failed to stop Dusan Vlahovic’s header early in the second half, Juventus took the lead and the 2023 European champions lost in Turin.
After a superb stop by Michele Di Gregorio denied Ilkay Gundogan an equalizer, Weston McKennie’s exquisite acrobatic goal in the 75th minute made it 2-0.
With two games remaining, the outcome puts Juventus on 11 points, which should be sufficient to secure them at least a spot in the play-offs for the knockout round.
In contrast, City has only won once in ten games across all competitions, losing seven of those games.
They are now 22nd in the rankings with only eight points; the top 24 finish in the knockout stages. Their upcoming match against Paris Saint-Germain, who are one point behind Guardiola’s team, will be pivotal.
Guardiola said on Amazon Prime in Italy, “We have to get points, and we’ll go to Paris to try and do that. The same goes for the final match at home (to Club Brugge).”
After defeating Dortmund 3-2 in a thrilling match in Germany, led by Ferran Torres, Barcelona is now second in the rankings with 15 points, only surpassed by Liverpool.
Early in an incredible second half, Raphinha gave Barca the lead with his 17th goal of the year.
With five minutes remaining, Torres scored again to give Barcelona the victory, but Guirassy quickly equalized with another goal.
Like Liverpool, Barcelona’s record puts them in a strong position to place in the top eight, guaranteeing them a spot in the round of 16 without having to go through the play-offs.
Arsenal easily defeated Monaco 3-0 in London to take third place in the rankings with 13 points.
As the hosts took advantage of Monaco’s terrible defense, Bukayo Saka scored twice to give the Gunners the lead in the first half and double the lead at 78 minutes.
With Lille edging Sturm Graz 3-2 in France courtesy to a brilliant late winner from Hakon Haraldsson, Mikel Arteta’s squad is one of six teams on 13 points.
Mitchel Bakker and Osame Sahraoui gave Lille a 2-0 lead, but Mika Biereth and Otar Kiteishvili’s strikes tied the score for the Austrian champions.
But Haraldsson, an Icelandic midfielder, gave Lille their fourth victory of the season.
Julian Alvarez opened the scoring with a superb shot, and Antoine Griezmann added two more goals as Atletico easily defeated Slovan Bratislava 3-1.
At San Siro, Milan overcame Red Star Belgrade 2-1, with Tammy Abraham scoring the game-winning goal three minutes from the end.
Nemanja Radonjic equalized for Milan after Rafael Leao had placed them ahead. The Serbian team has lost five of their last six games and is undoubtedly going home.
With a 0-0 draw at home against Bologna of Italy, who have only managed one goal in six games and will not advance, Benfica moved one step closer to a play-off position.
With goals from Gernot Trauner, Igor Paixao, Anis Hadj Moussa, and Santiago Gimenez, Feyenoord defeated Sparta Prague 4-2 in Rotterdam, staying on track to advance.
Stuttgart overcame a deficit to defeat Young Boys 5-1, preserving their hopes of advancement.
Enzo Millot, Chris Fuehrich, Josha Vagnoman, and Yannik Keitel all scored goals in the second half after Lukasz Lakomy gave Young Boys the lead but Angelo Stiller pulled even.
The league phase will end the following week, with the next round of Champions League matches set for January 21 and 22.
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