Red hot Ronaldo sets new Champions League record . . . Plus other stats News

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Red hot Ronaldo sets new Champions League record . . . Plus other stats

By Daily Sports on December 9, 2015

STATE OF PLAY

Group winners: Real Madrid, Wolfsburg, Atlético Madrid, Manchester City, Barcelona, Bayern München, Zenit

Group runners-up: Paris Saint-Germain, PSV Eindhoven, Benfica, Juventus

Can qualify on Wednesday: Roma, Bayer Leverkusen, BATE Borisov; Olympiacos, Arsenal; Chelsea, Porto, Dynamo Kyiv; Gent, Valencia (1 group winner, 4 group runners-up, 4 UEFA Europa League places tbc)

Transferred to UEFA Europa League: Shakhtar Donetsk, Manchester United, Galatasaray, Sevilla

Eliminated from Europe: Malmö, CSKA Moskva, Astana, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Lyon

GROUP A

Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk

Lucas got the only goal for Paris, who already knew they would finish second, but Shakhtar will still transfer to the UEFA Europa League round of 32 in third place thanks to Malmö's defeat.

Real Madrid 8-0 Malmö

Karim Benzema scored two early goals for the confirmed group winners but then Cristiano Ronaldo took over. He made it 3-0 on 39 minutes then hit three in the first quarter-hour of the second half to take his season’s tally to 11, two clear of the previous group-stage record he shared with Luiz Adriano. Mateo Kovačić notched the seventh before Benzema completed his hat-trick to equal the competition's record margin of victory.

GROUP B

Wolfsburg 4-2 Manchester United

Wolfsburg are through in first place and United ended third after a truly breathless occasion. Anthony Martial put United ahead on ten minutes yet Naldo quickly equalised and Vieirinha finished off a brilliant team move just before the half-hour. United were heading out, despite brief hope when CSKA led, but were back up to second when Marouane Fellaini's header was turned into his own net by Josuha Guilavogui. That was in the 82nd minute; almost instantly, however, Naldo struck again to decide the game.

PSV Eindhoven 2-1 CSKA Moskva

PSV knew they would be through with a win, although courtesy of United's defeat a draw would have sufficed for the Dutch outfit. With 14 minutes left CSKA, already confirmed in fourth, were awarded a penalty which Sergei Ignashevich coolly converted. Yet Luuk de Jong equalised almost immediately to take PSV into the round of 16 for the first time since 2006/07, the last occasion any Eredivisie club made it that far.

GROUP C

Benfica 1-2 Atlético de Madrid

Atlético required a victory to pip their fellow qualifiers to top spot and Saúl Ñíguez and Luciano Vietto struck either side of half-time to ensure precisely that, despite Kostas Mitroglou pulling one back with 15 minutes to go.

Galatasaray 1-1 Astana

For two minutes Astana looked as if they could be the first team from Kazakhstan to reach the knockout phase of a European competition – the UEFA Europa League – when Patrick Twumasi fired them in front. But Selçuk İnan quickly levelled to give Galatasaray third place.

GROUP D

Sevilla 1-0 Juventus

Sevilla will be able to go for a third straight UEFA Europa League title after Fernando Llorente's goal gave them the points and took them ahead of Mönchengladbach into the top three, one position behind Juventus.

Manchester City 4-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach

That Juve loss meant City claimed pole position with victory, though they left it late. David Silva gave City the advantage but the visitors led 2-1 at the break through Julian Korb and Raffael. With ten minutes to go, Raheem Sterling equalised and seconds later he netted again to make it a memorable 21st birthday. Substitute Wilfried Bony finished the job to end Mönchengladbach's European season. (uefa.com)

•Photo shows goal monster Cristiano Ronaldo.

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 9, 2015