Celtic provided the story of the night last night as they beat Barcelona 2-1 at a rocking Celtic Park, while Bayern Munich and Juventus notched big wins and Manchester United sealed their place in the round of 16.
The warning signs were there for Barcelona ahead of the match in Glasgow, as it took a last-minute goal from Jordi Alba to beat Celtic at the Camp Nou a fortnight ago. But there was no heartbreak for Celtic fans this time as 18-year-old Tony Watt’s goal proved decisive in a 2-1 victory.
The defeat in Barcelona was the only game in Europe that Celtic has lost this season. They have 6 wins,1 draw and 1 defeat and have a great chance to advance to the knockout stages for the first time under Neil Lennon.
After shockingly failing to qualify for the knockout stages last season, Manchester United made it four wins from four games as they came from behind to win at Braga 3-1. United trailed until the 80th minute, before goals from van Persie, Rooney and Hernandez made the scoreline more comfortable than it really was. Also in Group H, Galatasaray moved up to second in the group with a 3-1 win at Cluj. That was Galatasaray’s first away victory in the Champions League in ten years.
There was late drama at Stamford Bridge where Chelsea and Shakhtar Donetsk played a highly entertaining match. The tie seemed destined to end in a 2-2 before Victor Moses scored with an injury time header. The Chelsea win, combined with Juventus thrashing Nordsjælland 4-0, means that just one point separates the top three in Group E. Chelsea go to Turin next month knowing that a draw should be enough to see them progress to the knockout stages.
Finally in Group F, Bayern thrashed Lille 6-1 with Claudio Pizarro registering the third fastest hat-trick in the competition’s history. Valencia again got the better of BATE Borisov to join Bayern on nine points at the top of Group F.
Group E
Juventus 4-0 FC Nordsjælland
Chelsea FC 3-2 FC Shakhtar Donetsk
Group F
Valencia CF 4-2 FC BATE Borisov
FC Bayern München 6-1 LOSC Lille
Group G
Celtic FC 2-1 FC Barcelona
SL Benfica 2-0 FC Spartak Moskva
Group H
CFR 1907 Cluj 1-3 Galatasaray AŞ
SC Braga 1-3 Manchester United FC
