Liverpool, City and Barca into Champions League last 16

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Liverpool, Manchester City and Barcelona booked last-16 places in the Champions League on Wednesday, as holders Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid missed out on the top eight.

Premier League champions Liverpool thrashed Qarabag 6-0 in the eighth and final round of league-phase matches at Anfield to finish third in the 36-team table behind already-qualified Arsenal and Bayern Munich.

They were joined in the last 16 by Tottenham, Barca, Chelsea, Sporting Lisbon and Man City.

But holders PSG will have to go through the knockout play-off round, as they did en route to glory last season, after a 1-1 home draw with Newcastle.

Record 15-time winners Real Madrid also missed out on direct last-16 qualification in a dramatic 4-2 loss at former coach Jose Mourinho’s Benfica, who snatched the final play-off spot thanks to a 98th-minute goal from goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.

Liverpool forged ahead against Qarabag with a scrappy goal from Alexis Mac Allister before Florian Wirtz slotted in a second.

Mohamed Salah curled in from the edge of the box after Dominik Szoboszlai laid off a free-kick early in the second half and Hugo Ekitike raced clear to make it four.

Mac Allister completed a brace and substitute Federico Chiesa rounded off the rout.

“Hopefully (we can reach) the final,” Mac Allister told uefa.com. “We know what we’re capable of.”

Man City, Champions League winners in 2023, saw off Galatasaray 2-0 at the Etihad to grab eighth place with goals from Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki.

Barcelona, semi-finalists last season, came from behind to beat FC Copenhagen 4-1 at the Camp Nou, finishing fifth in the table.

Barca were stunned by a fourth-minute goal from 17-year-old Viktor Dadason, but Robert Lewandowski levelled shortly after half-time.

Lamine Yamal put Barca ahead with a shot that took a big deflection, before Raphinha’s 69th-minute penalty and a late free-kick from Marcus Rashford secured the Spanish champions a last-16 berth.

Tottenham beat already-eliminated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in Germany to take fourth, courtesy of goals from strikers Randal Kolo Muani and Dominic Solanke.

Chelsea made it five English teams straight through to the last 16, knocking Serie A title holders Napoli out of the competition with a 3-2 win.

Enzo Fernandez put Chelsea in front from the penalty spot but Antonio Vergara scored his first goal for Napoli to revive his team’s hopes of reaching the knock-out phase.

Hosts Napoli completed the first-half turnaround when Rasmus Hojlund crashed in a close-range shot.

But they were knocked out of the top 24 by Joao Pedro’s second-half double, a thumping strike followed by a cool finish on the counter.

Sporting Lisbon were the surprise top-eight finishers as they twice fought back to win 3-2 at Athletic Bilbao.

Real Madrid took the lead against Benfica when Kylian Mbappe headed home his 12th Champions League goal of the season.

But Benfica hit back before the break through Andreas Schjelderup and Vangelis Pavlidis’s penalty.

Schjelderup drilled in his second early in the second period, although Real pulled one back through Mbappe, leaving Benfica needing to score again to pip Marseille to the last play-off spot.

Both Raul Asencio and Rodrygo were sent off to leave Real down to nine men in injury time, and Trubin sensationally headed home a free-kick with the last touch of the game.

Real will face either a rematch with Benfica or a tie with Bodo/Glimt, who won 2-1 at Atletico Madrid, in the next round.

“I think we were far from the level we need to show,” said new Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa.

Newcastle and PSG will both go into the play-offs, against either Qarabag or Monaco, after a stalemate at the Parc des Princes.

Nick Pope made an excellent save to keep out Ousmane Dembele’s spot-kick, but PSG soon took the lead through Vitinha’s low strike from the edge of the box.

Newcastle managed to stay in the game and equalised in first-half added time, as Joe Willock arrived late in the box to head in a Dan Burn flick-on.

“It’s always difficult when you have expectations to be in the top eight,” PSG coach Luis Enrique told TNT Sports.

“Newcastle is a very good side… But we need to improve.”

Inter Milan failed to seal a top-eight berth despite a 2-0 success over Borussia Dortmund, as did Juventus after their goalless draw at Monaco.

Atletico, Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen, Dortmund, Olympiacos, Club Brugge and Galatasaray are the other sides into the play-off round.

Arsenal made it eight wins from eight to wrap up top spot with a 4-1 victory over Kairat Almaty, while Bayern saw off PSV Eindhoven 2-1 with a winner from Harry Kane, knocking their Dutch opponents out of the competition.

— AFP

Photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

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