Liverpool joined Chelsea and Manchester City in the round of 16 this week, although Manchester United’s European campaign will go right down to the wire after losing to PSG.
Liverpool confirmed their spot in the knockout stages of the competition thanks to a first ever Champions League goal from Curtis Jones.
The 19-year-old Scouser scored the only goal in the Reds’ 1-0 win against Ajax in Group D, also sealing their spot at the top of the group regardless of next week’s games.
A late Cristian Romero equaliser for Atalanta against FC Midtjylland means that they moved above Ajax in the table, despite initially going behind to Alexander Scholz’s opener.
Manchester United did not fare as well in Group H, losing 3-1 at home to PSG.
Neymar put the Parisians ahead before Marcus Rashford equalised via a huge deflection, before Marquinhos pounced from 5 yards out to restore their lead.
Fred luckily avoided dismissal after a headbutt in the first half but was shown a second yellow just after PSG’s second goal as United went down to ten men before Neymar netted again to seal all three points in the 91st minute.
RB Leipzig also won in dramatic fashion, as Alexander Sorloth bagged a 92nd minute winner to see the German side defeat Istanbul Basaksehir 4-3.
Yussuf Poulsen, Nordi Mukiele and Dani Olmo netted the first three Leipzig goals, although a hat-trick for Irfan Kahveci gave the German’s a scare with the score level at 3-3 before Sorloth’s winner.
There are now three teams on nine points in Group H, meaning everything rests on the final round of fixtures next week.
Elsewhere, Chelsea thrashed Sevilla 4-0 away from home as Olivier Giroud became just the 15th player ever to score four goals in a single Champions League game.
The Frenchman netted a perfect hat-tick before adding a fourth from the penalty spot as the Blues solidified their position at the top of Group E.
Marcus Berg scored in the other Group E match, as Krasnodar beat Rennes 1-0.
In Group C, Manchester City dropped their first points in Europe this season after VAR ruled out Gabriel Jesus’ goal in their 0-0 draw with Porto.
In contrast, Marseille got their first points after beating Olympiacos 2-1 thanks to two Dimitri Payet penalties.
The victory puts the French side back on course to stay in Europe via a third spot finish which would see them enter the Europa League, depending on the results in the final week of the group stages.
The big shock of the week saw Real Madrid lose their crunch tie against Shakthar in Group B.
Goals from Dentinho and Solomon meant that the Ukrainian club completed a European double against the Spanish side, becoming just the third team to do since 2008.
Inter Milan defeated leaders Borussia Monchengladbach 3-2, which throws the group wide open going into the final round of games.
Alassane Plea scored twice for the hosts, but a combination of former Manchester United players saw the Italians keep their European dream alive.
Matteo Darmian netted first, before a Romelu Lukaku brace sealed all three points for Inter.
Whilst Real Madrid struggle, their former star man Cristiano Ronaldo hit 750 career goals as Juventus beat Dynamo Kyiv 3-0 in Group G.
Federico Chiesa and Alvaro Morata scored either side of the Portuguese’s landmark goal as the ‘Old Lady’ dominated throughout.
Barcelona won their match as well, also beating Hungarian club Ferencvarosi 3-0 away from home.
Antoine Griezmann, Martin Braithwaite and Ousmane Dembele scored three first half goals as the group leaders won in comfortable fashion.
Bayern Munich failed to win a European game for the first time under Hansi Flick, drawing 1-1 in Spain against Atletico.
Joao Felix opened the scoring, and the Spaniards looked like they would hold on until Thomas Muller stepped up to score a penalty just four minutes from time.
Atletico now need to avoid defeat next week if they are to progress on to the round of 16.
This is because their second-place rivals Lokomotiv Moscow were thrashed 3-1 at home by RB Salzburg.
Mergim Berisha scored twice before Anton Miranchuk gave a late scare with his 79th minute penalty, although the Austrian side’s two goal lead was restored minutes later by Karim Adeyemi.
Finally, Borussia Dortmund and Lazio drew 1-1 in Group F.
Raphael Guerriero’s opener was cancelled out by Ciro Immobile from the penalty spot as both sides picked up a point each to remain in the top two spots in the group.
The other game saw Club Brugge keep their hopes of qualifying for the latter stages alive by beating Zenit St Petersburg 3-0.
Goals from Charles De Ketelaere, Hans Vanaken and Noa Lang helped to keep the Belgian club’s European dream alive.
There’s plenty left to play for, especially in Groups B, F and H as this year’s Champions League group stages go down to the final round of fixtures.
By Ali Pollock
