Real Madrid are on the verge of the Champions League knockout phase after opening up a five-point lead in Group D on a night when a poor Bayern Munich display saw them miss a chance to open up a gap on Napoli. Elsewhere Inter Milan and Benfica moved to the top of their respective groups.
Madrid have yet to drop a point this season in the Champions League and they comfortably beat Lyon 4-0 at the Bernabéu tonight. A win in the return leg on 2 November will see Real Madrid qualify for the knockout stages with two games to play. In the other group match, Ajax moved into second place with a 2-0 win over Dynamo Zagreb.
Group A leaders bayern Munich should have been in a similar position as Real Madrid. By despite taking a 1-0 lead in the 4th minute through Toni Kroos, Bayern were wasteful all night and they let Napoli back in the game via a Holger Badstuber own goal. The draw means that Bayern remain two points ahead of Napoli. Manchester City are one further back after Sergio Agüero scored with the last kick of the game to earn City their first ever win in the Champions League. A massive win for Roberto Mancini, as a draw would probably have ended City’s hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages.
Inter moved to the top of their group with a 1-0 victory over Lille in France. A much-needed victory for Claudio Ranieri’s side. The leaders in Group B had been Trabzonspor but they were thumped 3-0 by CSKA Moscow in the early game.
Benfica’s 2-0 victory in Switzerland allowed them to leapfrog Basel to the top of Group C. Manchester United moved into second place in the group with an unimpressive 2-0 win over minnow Oţelul Galaţi.
Eight more games are set to be played on Wednesday, with Marseille at home to Arsenal as they defend the only remaining perfect record other than Madrid’s.
Group A
SSC Napoli 1-1 FC Bayern München
Manchester City FC 2-1 Villarreal CF
Group B
PFC CSKA Moskva 3-0 Trabzonspor AŞ
LOSC Lille Métropole 0-1 FC Internazionale Milano
Group C
FC Oţelul Galaţi 0-2 Manchester United FC
FC Basel 1893 0-2 SL Benfica
Group D
Real Madrid CF 4-0 Olympique Lyonnais
GNK Dinamo Zagreb 0-2 AFC Ajax
