City advance to the last 16 of the top flight
Defending champions Manchester City have reached the last 16 of the Champions League ahead of schedule. The English soccer champions won 3:0 (2:0) against Young Boys Bern and can therefore no longer be displaced from one of the top two places in Group G.
Paris Saint-Germain, on the other hand, missed a big step towards the knockout round with a 2-1 (1-1) defeat at AC Milan - instead, Borussia Dortmund are now top of Group F.
Milan Skriniar (9') had initially put Paris ahead. But then Rafael Leão (12) and Olivier Giroud (50) turned the entertaining game in the hosts' favor. Milan (5 points) moved to within one point of second-placed PSG (6). Dortmund lead the extremely tight group with seven points.
Man City in command
City, who have won all four of their games so far, are a far cry from such tight constellations. Erling Haaland (23rd/penalty/52nd) and Phil Foden (45.+1) scored the goals for Manchester against a weak Swiss side.
Atlético Madrid are also on course for the knockout rounds after their 6:0 (2:0) win against Celtic Glasgow. Antoine Griezmann (6th/60th), Álvaro Morata (45th +2/76th), Samuel Lino (66th) and Saúl Ñíguez (85th) scored. However, the visitors had to play short-handed early on after Daizen Maeda (23) was shown red.
Donetsk win in Hamburg
In their temporary European Cup home of Hamburg, Shakhtar Donetsk had previously upset FC Barcelona with German internationals Ilkay Gündogan and Marc-André ter Stegen. On their second visit to the Volksparkstadion, the Ukrainian club prevented the Spanish champions from advancing to the round of 16 with a deserved 1:0 (1:0).
In front of almost 50,000 spectators, ex-Rostock professional Danylo Sikan (40th minute) scored the winner for the home side, who prevented the Catalans from winning their fourth game in the group stage with this surprising success. Shakhtar thus also preserved their own chances of progressing.
Source: www.dpa.com
