Michael Olise scored twice as Bayern Munich thumped Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1 to rise into the automatic last-16 places in the Champions League on Tuesday, while leaders Liverpool made it six wins from six and holders Real Madrid also won.
Bayer Leverkusen leapfrogged Inter into second after Nordi
Mukiele's late goal in a 1-0 home success – the first goal the Italians have conceded in the revamped competition. Aston Villa jumped up to third thanks to Ross Barkley's winner in a thrilling 3-2 victory at RB Leipzig, who are without a point and are eliminated.
The top eight go directly into the last 16 when the league stage concludes in January.
Paris Saint-Germain prevailed 3-0 at Salzburg to boost their last 16 play-off hopes in a faltering campaign and fellow French side Brest are fifth in a dream debut season after a 1-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven. Club Brugge beat Sporting Lisbon 2-1.
Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, who later went off injured, scored first at Atalanta but the champions were pegged back before a second-half blast from Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham secured a 3-2 win.
Madrid moved up to 18th, just outside the seeded play-off places and Europa League champions Atalanta are ninth, just behind Bayern.
Leaders Liverpool recorded a tight 1-0 win at Spaniards Girona and Dinamo Zagreb drew 0-0 with Celtic in the other early kick-off as both sides remained in an unseeded play-off berth with two to play.
Bayern come from behind as away team in Germany
The Shakhtar home game was played at Schalke's stadium in Germany due to the war in Ukraine. The noisiest fans were for Bayern, who were again without injured keeper Manuel Neuer and top striker Harry Kane.
Shakhtar opened the scoring early as Kevin cut inside a wide open Bayern defence to curl past Daniel Peretz. Konrad Laimer levelled on 11 minutes when the right back rifled into the top near corner.
Georgiy Sudakov then spurned a great chance for 2-1 for the Ukrainians, who are in the elimination places.
Almost immediately Bayern took advantage and won the ball high up, Jamal Musiala playing in fellow forward Thomas Müller to slide home.
Olise ended a mini-goal drought from the spot after Sacha Boey was fouled and Musiala grabbed a deserved goal before Olise's second.
Bayern sit eighth and have qualification in their own hands ahead of visiting Feyenoord and hosting lowly Slovan Bratislava next month.
"We didn't have a great start going behind but we didn't panic and continued doing our thing," Musiala told Amazon Prime.
Salah the man again for Liverpool
In Girona, Mohamed Salah's penalty for Liverpool on the hour made the difference after the hosts had dominated the first half. Girona stay 30th and currently out of last-16 contention after just one win.
Top dogs Liverpool had already wrapped up a last 16 play-off place and seem certain of an automatic berth as a top-eight side.
The Reds were on the back foot in the first half at the modest Estadi Montilivi as Liverpool keeper Alisson – returning from two months out – was constantly busy.
But the Catalans paid the price when Donny van de Beek was adjudged to have fouled Luis Diaz in the box as the Colombian lost his boot.
A VAR review led to the spot-kick and Salah, looking closer to signing a new Liverpool deal in his last year, converted with aplomb.
But coach Arne Slot, whose side also top the Premier League, was not impressed with Liverpool.
"I am really pleased with the five (other) games with the way we played. I'm far from pleased about the performance tonight," he said.
Seventh-placed Borussia Dortmund host Barcelona in sixth in the pick of Wednesday's matches.
- Real Madrid
- Bayern Munich
- Liverpool
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
