Liverpool shrugged off their Premier League problems to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League with a 3-0 win over Ajax on Wednesday.
Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott were on target in Amsterdam as the Reds reached the knockout stage for a sixth consecutive season.
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Jurgen Klopp’s men still have a mountain to climb next week when Napoli visit Anfield if they are to finish top of Group A.
Liverpool trail the Italians by three points and need to better Napoli’s 4-1 win when the sides met last month to get the better of the head-to-head record.
Defeat ends Ajax’s chances of reaching the last 16 and the Dutch champions were left to rue not taking advantage of a fast start as they flew out the traps.
Steven Berghuis should have opened the scoring after just two minutes when he fired against the post with just Alisson Becker to beat.
Berghuis then shot just wide from range and Dusan Tadic should have done better when he blasted into the body of Trent Alexander-Arnold at the back post.
Liverpool have now won as many Champions League matches this season as they have in 11 Premier League games.
The contrasting form of Jurgen Klopp’s men between domestic and European action is reflected in Salah’s scoring record.
Of the Egyptian’s nine goals this season, six have come in the Champions League as he produced a cool finish over Remko Pasveer from Jordan Henderson’s through ball to settle Liverpool nerves.
The visitors should have been out of sight before half-time but for an astonishing miss from Nunez, who hit the post with the goal gaping from Roberto Firmino’s unselfish pass.
Nunez has had a rollercoaster start to his career with the Reds after a 75 million euro ($152m AUD) move from Benfica and he quickly made amends after the break.
The Uruguayan rose highest to power Andy Robertson’s corner in off the far post on 49 minutes.
Three minutes later, Liverpool were cruising when Salah picked out the run of Elliott, who fired high past Pasveer from a narrow angle.
Klopp pointed much of the blame for his side’s lack of consistency in the opening months of the season to a catalogue of injuries.
And with another five games still to come before the World Cup break next month, a commanding lead meant the Liverpool could take their foot off the gas in the final half-hour with Nunez, Fabinho and Henderson among those handed a rest by Klopp.
BAYERN COMPOUND SPANISH GIANT’S UGLY EXIT
Bayern Munich clinched top spot in Champions League Group C with a 3-0 win over eliminated Barcelona, after the Catalans’ fate had been decided before kick-off at Camp Nou on Wednesday.
Inter Milan thrashed Viktoria Plzen 4-0 earlier on to guarantee progression to the last 16 and send Barca crashing out in the first round for a second successive season.
The Catalans, who drop into the Europa League, had reached the knock-out rounds in the 17 prior editions of the tournament before consecutive early eliminations under coach Xavi Hernandez.
The hosts had hoped to salvage some pride before a large and undeterred crowd of over 84,000 fans, but first-half goals from Sadio Mane and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting denied them even that, with Benjamin Pavard adding another late on.
A few supporters left at half-time but the majority stayed to the end as their team played their last Champions League game at Camp Nou until at least 2024, with the team set to move to the city’s Olympic Stadium next season during renovations.
Barca fans had already mourned their impending, and now confirmed, exit over the past fortnight and despite defeat, the match didn’t become the funeral procession it might threatened to.
Xavi selected a similar line-up to the team which convincingly dismantled Athletic Bilbao 4-0 on Sunday, with Pedri operating on the left side but with freedom to float.
– A cut above – Bayern, already through, were without injured goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, defender Lucas Hernandez and winger Leroy Sane, but still put out a strong line-up.
Despite strong home support, hoping their team could end a run of five consecutive defeats by the Bavarians for pride as much as anything else, the visitors clinically took the lead after 10 minutes.
Serge Gnabry played a fine through ball for Sadio Mane to race on to, leaving Hector Bellerin chasing hopelessly behind, and the Senegalese forward lofted over Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Barcelona tried to strike back, with Ousmane Dembele their main outlet on the right, but after a brilliant run past several defenders he could not find Pedri in the area.
Just like the Catalans’ recent Clasico defeat by Real Madrid, at times they had the upper hand, but their smarter opponents knew the right time to pounce.
Bayern sliced Barcelona open like a hot knife through butter again in the 31st minute, with former Stoke City and PSG striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting finishing consummately after another Gnabry pass. The Cameroon international now has five goals in his last four games.
Julian Nagelsmann’s team could have added a third before half-time but the otherwise ragged Hector Bellerin blocked on the line and Ter Stegen denied Jamal Musiala from close range.
Moments later Barcelona won a penalty when Robert Lewandowski was felled by Matthijs de Ligt, but after watching the incident again, referee Anthony Taylor cancelled it, provoking vitriol from Camp Nou.
Home supporters, and their coach Xavi, feel hard done by in Europe this season, after decisions did not go their way in Milan in a 1-0 defeat by Inter which hamstrung their chances of progression, and this felt like salt in the wound — although De Ligt took the ball.
Gnabry had a goal ruled out for offside in the second half just when it seemed Bayern had again masterfully absorbed Barcelona’s pressure and sucker-punched them at the other end.
Bayern rounded off their victory when Pavard finished from close range after a corner was fired back his way.
Former Bayern striker Lewandowski, who swapped the Allianz Arena for Camp Nou in the summer, left frustrated again, unable to net against his old side, one of the favourites for Champions League glory.
Barcelona will be among the favourites in Europe too, albeit for a different trophy.
VAR CRUELS SPURS IN DRAMATIC FINISH
Tottenham were denied a place in the last 16 of the Champions League as Harry Kane’s strike deep into stoppage time was ruled out after a VAR review in a 1-1 draw with Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday.
Spurs now still need at least a point when they travel to Marseille on Tuesday to reach the knockout phase with all four sides in Group D still alive heading into matchday six.
A draw will also be enough for Sporting to go through when they host Eintracht Frankfurt.
Spurs will most likely have to cope without coach Antonio Conte on the sidelines in southern France after the Italian was shown a red card in a controversial finale.
Tottenham had been forced the come from behind after ex-Spurs forward Marcus Edwards opened the scoring for Sporting.
Rodrigo Bentancur levelled 10 minutes from time and the home side thought they had snatched victory at the death when Kane smashed in from a narrow angle.
But after a VAR check lasting over three minutes, Kane was adjudged to have been offside from Emerson Royal’s header.
As tension mounted during the wait for the goal to be reviewed, Conte exploded at Dutch referee Danny Makkelie when offside was given, leaving Tottenham with work to do in Marseille in six days’ time.
WILD SCENES AS ATLETICO MADRID DUMPED OUT
Atletico Madrid have been dumped out of the Champions League after one of the most unbelievable finishes in football history.
Needing a win over German club Bayer Leverkusen to stay alive in the race for qualification to the elimination stages, the score was 2-2 when the referee blew the full-time whistle – only to award a penalty AFTER the match had seemingly ended.
VAR had spotted a Leverkusen handball in the box from an Atletico corner in the final play of the game.
Yannick Carrasco took the resulting penalty in the 99th minute, only for Fiunnish keeper Lukas Hradecky to block the shot. It rebounded to Saul Niguez, who headed the ball into the crossbar. It then rebounded to another Atletico player, Reinildo Mandava, whose shot was destined for the bottom corner – but hit the back of Carrasco and rebounded over the goal.
The referee blew the full-time whistle once more after the stunning sequence, with the result seeing Atletico unable to finish in the top two of their group with one game to go.
UEFA Champions League results:
Group A
In Amsterdam Ajax (NED) 0 Liverpool (ENG) 3 (Salah 42, Nunez 49, Elliott 52)
In Naples, Italy Napoli (ITA) 3 (Simeone 11, 16, Ostigard 80) Rangers (SCO) 0
Group B
In Bruges, Belgium Club Brugge (BEL) 0 Porto (POR) 4 (Taremi 33, 70, Evanilson 57, Eustaquio 60)
In Madrid Atletico Madrid (ESP) 2 (Carrasco 22, De Paul 50) Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 2 (Diaby 9, Hudson-Odoi 29)
Group C
In Milan, Italy Inter Milan (ITA) 4 (Mkhitaryan 35, Dzeko 42, 66, Lukaku 87) Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 0
In Barcelona, Spain Barcelona (ESP) 0 Bayern Munich (GER) 3 (Mane 10, Choupo-Moting 31, Pavard 90+5)
Group D
In Frankfurt, Germany Eintracht Frankfurt (GER) 2 (Kamada 3, Kolo Muani 27) Marseille (FRA) 1 (Guendouzi 22)
In London Tottenham (ENG) 1 (Bentancur 80) Sporting (POR) 1 (Edwards 22)
Played Tuesday Group E In Salzburg, Austria Salzburg (AUT) 1 (Adamu 49) Chelsea (ENG) 2 (Kovacic 23, Havertz 64)
In Zagreb Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 0 AC Milan (ITA) 4 (Gabbia 39, Leao 49, Giroud 49-pen, Ljubicic 69-og)
Group F
In Glasgow, Scotland Celtic (SCO) 1 (Giakoumakis 34) Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 1 (Mudryk 58)
In Leipzig, Germany RB Leipzig (GER) 3 (Gvardiol 13, Nkunku 18, Werner 81) Real Madrid (ESP) 2 (Vinicius 44, Rodrygo 90+3-pen)
Group G
In Seville, Spain Sevilla (ESP) 3 (En-Nesyri 61, Isco 88, Montiel 90+2)) FC Copenhagen (DEN) 0
In Dortmund, Germany Borussia Dortmund (GER) 0 Manchester City (ENG) 0
Group H
In Lisbon Benfica (POR) 4 (A. Silva 17, Joao Mario 28-pen, R. Silva 35, 50) Juventus (ITA) 3 (Kean 21, Milik 77, McKennie 79)
In Paris Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 7 (Messi 19, 45, Mbappe 32, 64, Neymar 35, Goldberg 67-og, Soler 84) Maccabi Haifa (ISR) 2 (Seck 38, 50)
