There were goals galore in the Champions league on Tuesday as Barcelona and Bayern Munich advanced to the knockout stage and also secured top spot in their groups.
Barcelona had already qualified following BATE Borisov draw with Bayer leverkusen earlier, but it clinched top spot in Group E in style, hammering Roma 6-1 as lionel Messi marked his return from injury with two goals.
“It’s tough to get back up to full speed,” said Messi. “I prepared well and trained but it’s not the same as going out on the pitch and lasting 90 minutes. I will take it with calm and get my pace back.”
Bayern routed second-placed Olympiakos 4-0, despite playing almost 40 minutes with 10 men, to ensure it will finish top of Group F, while Chelsea won by the same scoreline at 10-man Maccabi Tel Aviv in Group G.
Arsenal beat Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 to keep alive its chances of progressing. The Premier league side needs to beat Olympiakos in its final group match.
Zenit St. Petersburg secured top spot in Group H with a 2-0 win over Valencia.
Messi is back and scoring a double in Barcelona’s 6-1 win over Roma that put the titleholders into knockout stage for a 12th consecutive season.
Messi showed no rust in his second appearance since recovering from a left-knee ligament he tore on Sept. 26 and scored Barcelona’s second and fifth goals of the one-sided match.
luis Suarez opened the scoring at Camp Nou in the 15th minute. Three minutes later Messi scored his first goal from Suarez’s pass.
Suarez and Gerard Pique added more goals before Messi struck again. Adriano capped the demolition after converting from the rebound following Neymar’s missed penalty.
“Messi is the best and I feel very happy for him for his goals and because he played the entire match,” Suarez said.
Edin Dzeko got Roma’s goal just before the final whistle.
Roma was left with five points along with leverkusen, while BATE has four.
BATE’s Mikhail Gordeichuk’s took the lead in the second minute, only for Admir Mehmedi to equalize in the 68th.
GROUP F
It’s all over, at least for Bayern Munich. Pep Guardiola’s team can’t concede, let alone lose, even while playing most of the second half with 10 men. Douglas Costa, Robert lewandowski and Thomas Mueller scored inside the first 20 minutes.
Defender Holger Badstuber was sent off in 53rd minute on his first start after nine months out with a knee injury for downing Ideye Brown. But it was Bayern that went on to score again with Kingsley Coman completing the emphatic win in the 70th.
Bayern now tops the group with 12 points and cannot be dislodged with one match remaining. “We managed to win the group again, that was our goal,” Guardiola said. “My compliments to the team, we can be pleased.”
Arsenal can still advance to the knoutout stage as second in the group after beating Dinamo Zagreb 3-0. Alexis Sanchez scored twice and set up Mesut Ozil for Arsenal’s first goal.
GROUP G
Chelsea remained in the hunt to advance from Group G after easing past 10-man Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-0.
Tel Aviv was reduced to 10 men five minutes before halftime when former Chelsea defender Tal Ben Haim was sent off for a rash challenge on Diego Costa, but it took Chelsea more than half an hour to double its lead, when Willian curled in a free kick.
Gary Cahill had put the visitors up in the 20th minute. Oscar and substitute Kurt Zouma scored the other goals.
In the only negative point for Chelsea, captain John Terry fell awkwardly in the 75th and was taken off on a stretcher.
GROUP H
Russian striker Artyom Dzyuba scored again as Zenit secured top spot in Group H by beating Valencia 2-0, while Gent maintained its chances of qualifying after winning 2-1 at lyon thanks to Kalifa Coulibaly’s injury-time winner.
Gent has seven points, one more than Valencia, and can guarantee qualification by beating Zenit at home on Dec. 9. But lyon’s one point sees it miss out on a Europa league berth.
Dzyuba’s 74th-minute goal, his fifth of the group stage, was a simple finish after a lay-off from Hulk. Midfielder Oleg Shatov scored the opener.
GROUP C
Raul Jimenez scored twice to haul Benfica back from two goals down and earn a 2-2 draw with FC Astana in the Champions league on Wednesday.
Benfica started slowly in freezing conditions in Kazakhstan and went behind in the 19th minute when Astana forward Patrick Twumasi, back after a four-game ban, met Junior Kabananga's cross with a well-timed header.
Twelve minutes later, Marin Anicic made it 2-0 for Astana with a glancing header off Foxi Kethevoama's free kick.
Jimenez sparked the comeback with a powerful 39th minute header from a cross by Jonas, and scored his second from close range in the 72nd as Astana goalkeeper Nenad Eric failed to react to a shot.