City top PSG; Liverpool, Real Madrid roll; Atleti court disaster
Sports Desk, Nov 24 (EFE).- Manchester City beat Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday to nail down the top spot in Champions League Group A as Group B winners Liverpool stayed perfect and Real Madrid got revenge against Sheriff to go top of Group D, but Atletico Madrid face elimination after losing to AC Milan.
In the marquee contest of Match Day 5, the Cityzens of Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour prevailed over the Parisian side of Qatari magnate Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
Though City dominated the first half, they failed to score, setting the stage for Kylian Mbappe to put PSG up in the 50th minute of a game where neither Neymar nor Lionel Messi created many problems for the hosts.
Raheem Sterling brought City level in the 63rd minute and Gabriel Jesus got what would prove to be the winner with 14 minutes left in regulation.
The outcome lifted City to 12 points, 4 more than PSG with one match left, so Pep Guardiola’s men will go into the knockout stage as a seeded group winner.
Just 55 km (34 mi) down the road in Liverpool, the Reds downed Porto 2-0 on goals by Thiago Alcantara and Mohamed Salah, while in faraway Tiraspol, Real Madrid cruised to a comfortable victory against Sheriff.
David Alaba opened the scoring in the 30th minute and Toni Kroos doubled the lead with a spectacular goal in first-half stoppage time before Karim Benzema made it 3-0 early in the second half as the Blancos avenged their shocking loss to Sheriff at the Santiago Bernabeu on Match Day 2.
Real Madrid and second-place Inter Milan are both assured of advancing and the result of the final match between the two teams will decide face which of them wins the group.
In Madrid, two-time Champions League finalists Atletico conceded possession and the initiative to AC Milan and with three minutes left in regulation, they conceded a goal to sub Junior Messias, who beat Atleti goalkeeper Jan Oblak with a tremendous header.
Wednesday’s results leave the second round-of-16 berth from Group B up for grabs. Porto are currently second with 5 points, just one more than Atletico and Milan.
Milan host Liverpool on Match Day 6 and Atleti are away to Porto.
EFE
jjl/dr
