Ronaldo scores 750th goal in first Champions League with female referee
Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 750th goal of his remarkable career in a 3-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv, on Wednesday, as Stephanie Frappart became the first female referee to take charge of a Champions League match.
Federico Chiesa, with his first-ever Champions League goal, and Alvaro Morata were also on target while Ronaldo reached another milestone although it was far from his most spectacular goal as the ball appeared to go in off his shin.
The 35-year-old has scored 450 goals for Real Madrid, 118 for Manchester United, 102 for Portugal, 75 for Juventus and five for his first club, Sporting.
Ronaldo said on Instagram: "750 goals, 750 happy moments, 750 smiles on the faces of our fans. Thanks to all the players and coaches who have helped me reach this incredible number, thanks to all my loyal opponents who have made me work harder and harder every day."
"Next stop: 800."
With Juventus already qualified from Group G and Dynamo Kyiv already eliminated, the main interest was focused on Frappart but the Frenchwoman was barely noticed -- usually regarded as a good sign for a referee's performance.
Frappart, who made her Ligue 1 debut in April last year, booked three players and ignored one penalty shout from the Ukrainians in the first half when Benjamin Verbic went down under a challenge from Leonardo Bonucci.
Juve, second in the group with 12 points and three behind Barcelona, went ahead in the 21st minute when Chiesa scored with a textbook downward header from Alex Sandro's teasing cross.
His first goal in the competition came just over 20 years after his father Enrico scored his last, for Fiorentina against Bordeaux.
Ronaldo side-footed against the bar before halftime but, as usual, the Portuguese was not to be denied and was on target in the 57th minute with his tenth goal in eight games this season.
Chiesa whipped in a low cross, goalkeeper Georgiy Bushchan palmed it against Morata and Ronaldo scored from close range. The goal was confirmed after a VAR review.
Chiesa was also involved in setting up the third goal for Morata in the 66th minute to round off a convincing Juventus display.
"I can't say we played well but our defensive mistakes did cost us a lot," said Dynamo coach Mircea Lucescu. "It's very hard when you have players aged 21 and 18 in your back line. Those errors were costly for us. It's just a lack of experience."
Neymar strikes twice as PSG win at Old Trafford
Brazilian Neymar scored twice and his compatriot Fred was sent off as Paris St Germain beat 10-man Manchester United 3-1 at Old Trafford to throw Champions League Group H wide open.
United, PSG and RB Leipzig all on nine points heading into next week's final round of games in which the English side go to the German club and the French champions host Istanbul Basaksehir.
United knew a point would be enough to secure a place in the last 16 and they really should have wrapped the game up well before Marquinhos put PSG 2-1 up in the 69th minute and Fred received his marching orders a minute later.
It was surprising Fred was still on the field by that stage having received only a yellow card following a VAR review of an off-the-ball head-to-head clash with Argentine Leandro Paredes.
The pair were involved in a strong challenge later in the first half for which the Argentine was booked but despite having plenty of options on the bench, United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer decided against substituting Fred, a costly mistake.
Neymar fired PSG into a sixth-minute lead after a Kylian Mbappe shot was deflected and fell kindly to the former Barcelona forward who drilled the ball into the bottom corner.
United drew level in the 32nd minute through a Marcus Rashford shot which deflected off the outstretched leg of Danilo to beat PSG keeper Keylor Navas.
United created several good chances after the break but failed to go ahead.
After good work from Edinson Cavani and Rashford down the right, Anthony Martial fired over the bar from a promising position.
Cavani was sent through and launched an audacious chip over the advancing Navas but the ball struck the crossbar -- Martial's follow up shot was brilliantly blocked by Marquinhos.
The Brazilian defender struck the bar himself with a looping header over David De Gea and the Spanish keeper pulled off a great save to keep out a low shot from substitute Mitchel Bakker.
Then came the minute that changed the game - a half-cleared corner rattled around the box before it was poked in by Marquinhos.
Fred was dismissed after a foul on ex-United midfielder Ander Herrera as things fell to pieces for the home side.
Paul Pogba was thrown on and went close with a superb volley from outside the area but as United threw men forward they left holes at the back.
Mbappe powered through with a speedy run from deep but side-footed wide before the outcome was settled when Rafinha set-up Neymar for a simple tap-in.
PSG now have the head-to-head advantage over United and the easier task on paper next week while Solskjaer's men have plenty to do in Leipzig.
Griezmann and Alba lead Barca stroll past Ferencvaros
Barcelona out-classed Ferencvaros and eased their way to a 3-0 away win for a fifth consecutive Champions League victory which took them to the brink of clinching top spot in their group.
Lionel Messi was rested and missed a second European trip in a row but Barca barely noticed their captain's absence as goals from Antoine Griezmann, Martin Braithwaite and a penalty from Ousmane Dembele gave them a three-goal lead before the break.
Ronald Koeman's side continued to dominate in the second half and Dembele missed three chances to add to their lead while Miralem Pjanic also came close.
Barca, who have already qualified for the knockout stages, lead Group G with a maximum 15 points. They host second-placed Juventus in their final game next week and will finish top if they avoid defeat.
"We played very well, we scored some great goals and I'm very happy with how we played, especially in the first half," said Barca coach Koeman.
"You can see that we have a great squad as we were able to rest various players and the ones who played today showed that there's a lot of competition, particularly in attack."
The game followed a similar script to last week's 4-0 win away to Dynamo Kyiv as Barca had total control even though they had left Messi, Philippe Coutinho and first-choice keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen at home and had little to play for.
They were particularly dangerous down the left-hand side as Jordi Alba and Dembele tormented the inexperienced Hungarians with little resistance.
The pair combined to slice open the defence for the first goal in the 14th minute, Alba crossing for Griezmann who pulled off a splendid backheeled finish to score for the third game in a row in all competitions.
Dembele then tore down the left wing and his cross found its way to Danish forward Braithwaite, who slid in to turn the ball into the net in the 20th.
Braithwaite, who two years ago was warming the bench for Middlesbrough in the English second division but has scored four goals in his last three appearances for Barca, then earned a penalty.
Despite scoring from the spot against Kyiv last week, he handed the ball to Dembele, who made no mistake.
"We played a great first half with lots of goals and chances and we showed a lot of quality in the second half too," added Barca defender Clement Lenglet.
The Catalans have won their last three games in all competitions while scoring 11 goals but the Frenchman said they were not doing anything drastically different.
"Nothing has changed, we are doing the same things but right now results are going in our favour and we're not conceding many goals, and that's giving us confidence. We are all pulling together to get these victories."
Four-goal Giroud seals top spot for dominant Chelsea
Striker Olivier Giroud scored four as a dominant Chelsea won 4-0 at Sevilla to secure top spot in Champions League Group E with a match to spare.
The result left Chelsea with 13 points from five games, three ahead of second-placed Sevilla with a better head-to-head record against the Spanish side after their 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge in the reverse fixture.
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard fielded an adventurous formation with three forwards behind Giroud and his bold move paid dividends as the Frenchman fired on all cylinders.
Giroud opened his account in the eighth minute with a left-footed finish from 10 metres after a darting run through the middle by Kai Havertz, with Chelsea missing two more chances in a lop-sided first half.
There was more one-way traffic after the break as Giroud doubled the lead in the 54th minute, beating goalkeeper Alfonso Pastor with a dinked right-footed finish having side-stepped a defender after Mateo Kovacic's clever pass.
He made it 3-0 with a thumping 74th-minute header from substitute N'Golo Kante's inch-perfect cross and then put the icing on the cake with an 83rd-minute penalty after he was fouled by Sergi Gomez.
Sevilla, who also booked a last-16 berth alongside Chelsea in the previous round of games, looked toothless up front and only had Nemanja Gudelj's volley, which sailed over the bar, to show for their efforts.
In the group's other fixture played earlier on Wednesday, Russian side Krasnodar secured a berth in the Europa League last 32 with a 1-0 home win over French rivals Stade Rennais.
Dortmund overcome Haaland absence to draw with Lazio and reach last 16
Borussia Dortmund overcame the absence of injured top scorer Erling Haaland to draw 1-1 with Lazio in Champions League Group F and advance to the knockout stages with a game to spare.
The Germans secured a top-two finish ahead of their final game at Zenit St Petersburg, but Lazio need at least a draw against Club Brugge next week to advance.
The 20-year-old Haaland, who has scored 16 goals in 12 Champions League appearances, was surprisingly not in Dortmund's starting lineup and his coach Lucien Favre said a muscle injury would sideline the Norwegian until January.
It was Lazio who had the better chances in the first half but the hosts, who clearly missed Haaland's scoring instinct, struck against the run of play a minute before the break.
"We lost 3-1 in Rome, we improved tonight and could have won it with our chances," Favre said. "In the end it was not our best performance, but we have qualified. That is what was important tonight. Nothing else matters."
The Germans scored with their first real chance, Raphael Guerreiro prodding in after a quick passing move split open the Italian defence.
Lazio captain Ciro Immobile, playing against his former club, levelled with a 67th-minute penalty and the Italians then forced Dortmund keeper Roman Buerki to make two outstanding saves to send his team through.
Buerki palmed Immobile's powerful low drive wide in the 87th and he pushed Andreas Pereira's free kick deep in stoppage time over the bar.
"We did well to react, did well to not lose and we had a great final 20 minutes in which we did all we could do win it and get the three points," Immobile said.
"We wouldn’t have deserved to lose, for what we showed in the second half. We showed great character and winning mentality."
There was more bad news for Dortmund, already the missing injured Emre Can and Thomas Meunier, with centre back Mats Hummels helped off the pitch late in the game due to an ankle injury.
Dortmund are on 10 points with second-placed Lazio on nine. Club Brugge are third on seven after beating last-placed Zenit.
