Sergio Aguero's last-gasp heroics earned Manchester City a thrilling 3-2 win over 10-man Bayern Munich to boost their hopes of reachin...
Sergio Aguero's last-gasp heroics earned Manchester City a thrilling 3-2 win over 10-man Bayern Munich to boost their hopes of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League.
City looked to be heading to defeat against Bayern until Aguero popped up with two goals in the last five minutes to complete his hat-trick and turn the game on its head.
The home side had got off to the perfect start when Medhi Benatia was sent off after 20 minutes for bringing down Aguero for a penalty.
The Argentine then picked himself up to score from the spot.
However, Bayern stunned City as two goals before half-time from Xabi Alonso and Robert Lewandowski turned the game in the German side's favour.
City huffed and puffed in the second half, but Aguero came to their rescue with two deadly finishes to earn them a famous victory and a win against Roma in their final Group E game will see them progress to the knockout stages, so long as Bayern do not lose to CSKA Moscow.
Lionel Messi became the record Champions League goalscorer and Luis Suarez opened his account for Barcelona as the Catalan giants cruised to a 4-0 win over APOEL Nicosia.
Suarez put Barca ahead with his first goal for the club since his £64million summer move from Liverpool before Messi took centre-stage with a hat-trick - all with his less-favoured right foot.
The first of those saw him break former Real Madrid striker Raul's tally of 71 to make the Argentina superstar the leading scorer in the competition's history.
It was the second notable scoring record that Messi had broken in the space of three days, with the 27-year-old having also become the all-time leading Primera Division marksman at the weekend with his hat-trick against Sevilla.
Chelseaqualified for the Champions League knockout phase with a group match to spare as they ruthlessly swept aside Roberto Di Matteo's Schalke.
The Blues, knowing a win would put them in the last 16, led through John Terry's header after 86 seconds.
A slick move ended with Willian driving in the second, before Schalke defender Jan Kirchhoff headed into his own net as Chelsea led 3-0 at half-time.
Didier Drogba tapped in before setting up Ramires to head in the fifth.
Chelsea substitutes Drogba and Ramires netted in the last 15 minutes to cap a flawless performance which merited the emphatic scoreline for the visitors in Gelsenkirchen
Paris St Germain maintained their edge over Barcelona at the top of Champions League Group F with a comfortable 3-1 win over Ajax at the Parc des Princes.
Edinson Cavani opened and completed the scoring with Davy Klaassen making things interesting midway through the second half, cancelling out the Uruguayan's opener before Zlatan Ibrahimovic restored PSG's lead.
With Barcelona also victorious in Cyprus, the winners of the section will now be decided in a head-to-head in Spain in the final round of matches, when Ajax need to avoid defeat at home to APOEL to secure third.
Although they could not catch either their opponents or Barca, the stakes were still high for Ajax, who are in contention for a place in the Europa League.
RESULTS
Bayern Munich 2 –0 Roma
Man City 1 -2 CSKA
Ajax 0–2 Barcelona
PSG 1-0 Apoel Nicosia
NK Maribor 1–1Chelsea
Sporting 4–2 Schalke
Ath Bilbao 0-2 FC Porto
Shaktar 5-0 BATE
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