Champions League: Real Madrid yet to seal knockout place
- Published
Real Madrid will have to wait to seal their place in the Champions League knockout stage after a thrilling six-goal draw against Legia Warsaw, which was played behind closed doors.
The match was played in an empty stadium after crowd trouble at Legia's last Champions League home game - a 6-0 defeat by Borussia Dortmund - resulted in a £69,000 fine and stadium ban.
Wales forward Gareth Bale put Real Madrid ahead after 57 seconds, before assisting Karim Benzema to double their lead.
But goals by Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe and Miroslav Radovic drew Warsaw level, before the Polish side took the lead through a superb Thibault Moulin strike.
The celebrations were short-lived though, with Madrid, on Zinedine Zidane's 100th match in charge, cancelling out Warsaw's lead only two minutes later through former Inter midfielder Mateo Kovacic.
The 3-3 draw means Warsaw - who are the first Polish side to make the Champions League group stage for 20 years - will go out after before the knockout phase having claimed only a single point in their first four games.
Dinamo Zagreb and Club Brugge will also exit at the group stage, having recorded four consecutive defeats in the tournament.
The Croatian side lost 4-0 to Sevilla, while the Belgian team lost 1-0 to Porto.
Dortmund through, Juve edge closer
Borussia Dortmund were the only team to secure their last-16 status on Wednesday. A 12th-minute Ramos goal was enough to seal a 1-0 win over Sporting Lisbon.
Meanwhile Monaco top the standings in Group E after a 3-0 victory over CSKA Moscow.
Valere Germain opened the scoring for the Ligue 1 side, while two goals from Radamel Falcao ended Russian hopes of a comeback.
An 84th-minute Lyon equaliser prevented Juventus from cementing their position in the knockout phase and ended Gianluigi Buffon's hopes of keeping a clean sheet in his 100th Champions League appearance for the side.
The Bianconeri went ahead after 12 minutes as Gonzalo Higuain slotted a penalty into the bottom left corner, but a header by Corentin Tolisso denied the Italian side three points and the game ended 1-1.
How did the English teams get on?
Leicester maintained their Champions League unbeaten run with a 0-0 draw away at FC Copenhagen, but will have to wait to ensure their position in the last 16. The Foxes are yet to concede in the tournament.
Meanwhile Tottenham's miserable run at Wembley continued with a 1-0 defeat by Bayer Leverkusen at 'home'. Tottenham have won only once at the new Wembley - on their first trip there in the League Cup final against Chelsea in 2008 - and have now lost six consecutive games at the stadium.
- Published2 November 2016
- Published2 November 2016
- Published3 November 2016