27th November, 2013
Manchester United and Real Madrid, with a dozen European titles between them, powered into the Champions League Last 16 on Wednesday as in Russia holders Bayern Munich produced a record-breaking show in the snow.
Also securing their passage to the knockout stages of Europe’s premier club competition were French champions Paris Saint-Germain.
This trio join already-qualified Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City.
That leaves the identity of the final eight teams still to be revealed after the final throw of the first round dice in mid-December.
United produced the best performance of David Moyes’ short reign as manager since succeeding Alex Ferguson, who beamed down from Leverkusen’s stand as goals from Antonio Valencia, Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling, Nani and an own-goal from Emir Spahic left the Bundesliga side bemused.
United go into the closing group game against Shakhtar Donetsk as Group A leaders on 11 points, with Shakhtar up to second, three points behind, after a 4-0 win over Real Sociedad.
In Madrid, a fine free-kick from Gareth Bale set Real on their way to a 4-1 rout of Galatasaray which guaranteed them top spot in Group B irrespective of what happens in their closing group game.
The nine-time European champions’ win was all the more noteworthy given they had to play the bulk of the game with 10 men after Sergio Ramos was sent off.
PSG also lost a man, Marco Verratti leaving the pitch with the second half barely begun, but the French champions held firm to see off Olympiakos 2-1 and finish as Group C winners.
Their star Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrated his 100th Champions League appearance with the opener.
Kostas Manolas drew the Greeks level with nine minutes remaining only for PSG to seal the win with Edinson Cavani’s 90th minute strike.
Olympiakos are now in a fight with Benfica, 3-2 winners at Anderlecht, for second place.
In freezing conditions in Russia, Bayern Munich set a new competition record when they defeated CSKA Moscow 3-1 for their tenth successive Champions League win, bettering the old mark set by Barcelona in 2002.
Arjen Robben, one of the scorers, reflecting on Bayern’s latest record, said: “We have often said that we don’t play for these records, we play to win titles.
“But we have a great team and I’m proud to be part of it. It’s a fantastic achievement to win 10 consecutive games in Europe, especially if you consider that we also played Barcelona and then Dortmund in the final on the way.”
Manchester City, meanwhile, beat Viktoria Plzen, with Alvaro Negredo coming off the bench to inspire a 4-2 win after Manuel Pellegrini’s side twice squandered the lead.