Champions League Match Day 6 Roundup

The 6th and final match day took place on Tuesday and Wednesday. The teams for the Round of 16 are all set in the UEFA Champions League. Here is the Group-by-Group breakdown:

Group A

Manchester United squeaked out a 1-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk thanks to a Phil Jones goal in the 67th minute. The group’s other match between Real Sociedad and Bayer Leverkusen also ended 1-0. Omer Toprak scored in the 49th minute to ensure Leverkusen moved on in the Champions League.

Manchester United won the group with 14 points, Bayer Leverkusen finish 2nd with 10 points, Shakhtar Donetsk finished 3rd with 8 points, and Real Sociedad finished last with only 1 point. Manchester United and Bayer Leverkusen will move on to the Round of 16 in the Champions League. Shakhtar will be placed in the Europa League Round of 32. Real Sociedad are eliminated from European competition.

Group B

Real Madrid went to Copenhagen and won 2-0. Luka Modric scored first in the 25th minute with a wonderful curling strike. Ronaldo scored the 2nd goal in the 48th minute adding to his already impressive total. Ronaldo has scored 9 goals in the Champions League Group Stage, the most ever in this famed competition. The game’s other match between Galatasaray and Juventus was halted in the 32nd minute for weather. After an unsuccessful attempt to restart the game, it was abandoned. The game resumed on Wednesday in the 32nd minute with the score at 0-0. Wesley Sneijder hit an 85th minute goal to give Galatasaray the 1-0 win and the spot in the Round of 16.

Real Madrid won the group with 16 points, Galatasaray finished 2nd with 7 points, Juventus finished 3rd with 6 points, and Copenhagen were last with 4 points. Real Madrid and Galatasaray move on in the UEFA Champions League. Juventus will go into the Round of 32 in the Europa League and Copenhagen are eliminated from European Competition

Group C

The battle for 2nd between Benfica and Olympiacos was in doubt until the last minutes. Benfica rallied from 1-0 down to beat PSG 2-1. Lima had a goal from the penalty spot in the 45th minute. In the 2nd half, Nicolas Gaitan put a goal in the back of the net to give Benfica the needed victory. Olympiacos was at home to Anderlecht and needed to win to make the Round of 16. Javier Saviola got on the score sheet for Olympiacos in the 33rd minute, but that was cancelled out by Sacha Kljestan’s 39th minute goal for Anderlecht. Saviola put Olympiacos ahead for good in the 58th minute, while Alejandro Dominguez put the game beyond doubt with a 95th minute stoppage time penalty goal.

PSG won the group with 13 points. Olympiacos and Benfica both finished level on 10 points, with Olympiacos having the better goal differential of +2 compared to 0 for Benfica. That means Olympiacos will play in the Round of 16 while Benfica will move to the Round of 32 in the Europa League. Anderlecht finished last with 1 point.

Group D

The stunner of the Tuesday games happened in Group D. Bayern Munich looked well on their way to victory after a 5th minute goal from Thomas Muller and a 12th minute goal from Mario Gotze. Manchester City did not give up as David Silva pulled a goal back in the 28th minute to make it 2-1 Bayern Munich. Aleksandar Kolarov hit one home from the penalty spot in the 59th minute, before James Milner made the comeback complete in the 62nd minute. The group’s other match saw Tomas Wagner hit a 90th minute goal from Viktoria Plzen to beat CSKA Moscow 2-1.

Despite the loss, Bayern Munich still won the group with 15 points. Manchester City also had 15 points (worse goal differential vs. Bayern Munich), Viktoria Plzen finish 3rd with 3 points, and CSKA Moscow finished last with 3 points as well. Viktoria gets the nod over CSKA Moscow because they had more away goals in the group stage. Bayern and City were confirmed for the Round of 16 in the Champions League already, but Viktoria Plzen have stolen the Europa League spot from under CSKA Moscow.

Group E

A 10th minute Demba Ba goal was all that separated Chelsea and Steaua Bucuresti in their match. The match between Schalke and Basel turned in the 31st minute when Basel’s Ivan Ivanov got a straight red card to leave his team with 10 men. Schalke took advantage of the extra man in the 2nd half with goals from Julian Draxler in the 51st minute and Joel Matip in the 57th minute. Schalke took all 3 points with a final scoreline of 2-0 over Basel.

Chelsea won the group with 12 point, Schalke finished 2nd with 10 points, Basel were 3rd with 8 points, and Steaua Bucuresti finished last with 3 points. Chelsea and Schalke will move onto the Round of 16 in the Champions League with Basel going to the Europa League and the Round of 32. Steaua are eliminated from European competition.

Group F

The “Group of Death” went down to the final minutes. Napoli got a goal from Gonzalo Higuain in the 73rd minute and then another goal in the 93rd minute from Jose Callejon to make it a final score of 2-0 over Arsenal. Borussia Dortmund were tied 1-1 and on their way out of the Champions League until Kevin Grobkreutz put the German side ahead 2-1. Borussia would not relinquish that lead.

Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, and Napoli all finished on 12 points. However, thanks to goal differential, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal will march on in the Champions League. Dortmund had a goal differential of +5, Arsenal had +3, and Napoli had +1. Napoli will have a slight consolation prize in the Europa League Round of 32. Marseille failed to register a point, but did make things very interesting on this last match day of the Champions League group stage.

Group G

Atletico Madrid already had this group in hand, but still made their case as a darkhorse contender in this Competition with a 2-0 victory over Porto. Atletico got goals from Raul Garcia in the 14th minute and Diego Costa in the 37th minute. Austria Wien got their only win of the group stage in a 4-1 thrashing of Zenit St Petersburg. Aleksandr Kerzhaov put Zenit ahead 1-0 in the 35th minute, but it was all Austria Wien after that. Philipp Hosiner had goals in the 44th and 51st minutes, Tomas Jun had one in the 48th, and Roman Kienast added the final for good measure in the 93rd minute.

Atletico Madrid had already won the group on Match day 4 and they finished with 16 points. Despite their crushing defeat, Zenit hung on for 2nd place with 6 points. Porto and Austria Wien both finished on 5 points, but Porto’s better goal differential of -3 compared to Wien’s -5 sees them finish 3rd. Atletico Madrid and Zenit march on in the Champions League with Porto dropping to the Europa League. Austria Wien will no longer take part in European Competition this season.

Group H

Barcelona completely dominated Celtic from the opening kick, winning by 5 goals, 6-1. Neymar had a hat trick within a 15 minute span and the route was on. The group’s other match between Milan and Ajax ended scoreless despite Milan playing with 10 men for almost 70 minutes. Ricardo Montolivo was sent off for an awful challenge in the 22nd minute.

Barcelona won the group with 13 points, Milan finished 2nd with 9 points, Ajax were 3rd with 8 points, and Celtic finished last with 3 points. Barcelona and Milan move to the UCL Round of 16 while Ajax will play in the Europa League Round of 32. Celtic are eliminated from European Competition.

Knockout Stages

The Round of 16 teams are set and here they are:

The Round of 16 draw will take place on Monday, December 16, 2013. As a reminder, teams from the same association (such as England) cannot face each other in the Round of 16. Also, teams from the same Group (such as Group A which featured Manchester United and Bayer Leverkusen) cannot be drawn together.

Be sure to check back when the Round of 16 Draw is complete for my analysis and picks!