Phil Jones’ solitary goal was enough for Manchester United as they beat Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 at Old Trafford. Omer Toprak scored the winner for Bayer Leverkusen as the German side beat Real Sociedad 1-0 in Spain.
Group A
United and Leverkusen progressed as group winners and runners-up respectively while Shakhtar have to settle for a Europa League place.
Group B
Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Real Madrid as the Los Blancos beat FC Copenhagen 2-0 away. Wesley Sneijder scored the only goal as Galatasaray beat Juventus 1-0 in Turkey.
Real Madrid progressed as group winners with 16 points while Galatasaray ensured progress at the expense of Juventus. The reigning Italian champions have to be content with a Europa League spot.
Group C
Edinson Cavani’s early opener for Paris Saint-Germain was cancelled out by strikes from Lima and Nicolas Gaitan as the Parisians were beaten 2-1 away at Benfica. Javier Saviola scored a brace and Alejandro Dominguez also scored as Olympiakos beat Anderlecht 3-1 at home. Three players were sent off as the Belgian side ended the game with 8 men.
PSG progressed as group winners while Olympiakos edged out Benfica to seal their place in the knockout stage. Benfica have to settle for a Europa League berth.
Group D
Bayern Munich were stunned at home by Manchester City as the visitors avenged their humiliating home defeat earlier in the group stage. Thomas Muller and Mario Gotze put the Bavarians in front but David Silva, Aleksandar Kolarov and James Milner scored for City to help them beat the reigning European champions. Viktoria Plzen beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 at home with the Russian outfit ending the game with 9 men.
Bayern and City progressed level on points with the former going through as group winners while Plzen surprisingly bagged the Europa League spot at the expense of CSKA.
Group E
Demba Ba’s early goal was enough for Chelsea as they beat Steaua Bucuresti 1-0 at Stamford Bridge while Schalke beat FC Basel 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Julian Draxler and Joel Matip. Basel ended the game with 10 men after Ivan Ivanov was sent off after half an hour.
Chelsea progressed as group winners while Schalke ensured progress by beating Basel. The Swiss side have to make do with a Europa League spot.
Group F
Borussia Dortmund beat Marseille 2-1 in France thanks to Kevin Groskreutz’s winner after Souleymane Diawara had cancelled out Robert Lewandowski’s opener for the German side. Dimitri Payet was sent off for Marseille as they ended the group stage without a single point. They became the first team do so after having won the competition previously. Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Callejon scored for Napoli as they beat Arsenal 2-0 at home. Mikel Arteta saw red for the Gunners.
Dortmund edged out Arsenal to progress as group winners while Arsenal themselves scraped through despite the loss. Napoli despite being level on points with Dortmund and Arsenal have to settle for a Europa League spot.
Group G
Raul Garcia and Diego Costa scored for Atletico Madrid as they beat FC Porto 2-0 at home while Austria Vienna recorded the first win for an Austrian side in the competition by beating Zenit St Petersburg 4-1 at home.
Atletico progressed as group winners while Zenit grabbed the second spot despite the loss. FC Porto have to settle for a Europa League berth.
Group H
AC Milan hung on to draw 0-0 at home against Ajax Amsterdam after Riccardo Montolivo was sent off for the Rossoneri after 22 minutes. A distraught Frank de Boer blamed Milan claiming that the Italians had resorted to “anti-football” tactics. Neymar scored a hat trick with Gerard Pique, Pedro and Cristian Tello also getting on the score sheet as Barcelona thumped Celtic 6-1 at the Nou Camp. Georgios Samaras scored a late consolation for the Scottish champions.
Barca progressed as group winners with Milan edging past Ajax thanks to their stalemate. Ajax have to be happy with a Europa League spot.
