Dusan Tadic scored twice in the second half Tuesday to take Ajax to the last 16 in the Champions League for the first time in 12 years with a 2-0 win over 10-man AEK Athens, which fell to a fifth straight loss in the competition.
The Serb defender scored from the penalty spot in the 68th minute after Marko Livaja received a second yellow card for handling the ball. He struck again four minutes later, tapping in an unselfish pass from substitute Klaas Jan Huntelaar.
AEK had managed to keep Ajax at bay thanks to the unyielding center-back duo of Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Marios Oikonomou, but struggled after losing Livaja.
The game was preceded by violence inside Athens’ Olympic Stadium and in parts of central Athens.
United’s struggles at home and their fans’ disenchantment had looked set to continue as it seemed that, for the first time in their history, they were going to fail to score at their own ground in a European tie for three matches in a row.
Yet, after largely dominating the match while being betrayed by a blunt edge up front, Belgian Fellaini turned to shoot home in the 91st minute, despite the ball appearing to come off his hand as he swivelled to strike it.
“For me it was not a handball,” he told BT Sport. “If it touched my hand, it was not on purpose.”
United, though, were also grateful for the right hand of goalkeeper David de Gea, who made a truly remarkable second-half save at full stretch from a deflected Ulisses Garcia strike, clawing the ball off the line at full stretch.
It was so brilliant that it even prompted United manager Jose Mourinho to hail the Spaniard as “the best goalkeeper in the world.”
The 42-year-old’s first match as permanent manager of the European champions ended in an embarrassing 3-0 defeat in the Basque Country on Saturday, a result that leaves Real in sixth place and six points behind leaders Sevilla in La Liga.
Second-half goals from Gareth Bale and Lucas Vazquez on Tuesday sealed a win that assured Real of top spot in the section and ended Roma’s eight-match unbeaten home run in the competition, as well as easing the pain of the defeat at Eibar.
The 42-year-old’s first match as permanent manager of the European champions ended in an embarrassing 3-0 defeat in the Basque Country on Saturday, a result that leaves Real in sixth place and six points behind leaders Sevilla in La Liga.
Second-half goals from Gareth Bale and Lucas Vazquez on Tuesday sealed a win that assured Real of top spot in the section and ended Roma’s eight-match unbeaten home run in the competition, as well as easing the pain of the defeat at Eibar.
Manchester City progressed to the knockout stages of the Champions League from Group F on Tuesday after twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 with Olympique Lyonnais, a team Pep Guardiola hailed as one of the toughest he has ever faced.
Goals from Maxwel Cornet were cancelled out by Aymeric Laporte and Sergio Aguero to leave City top of the group on 10 points. Lyon are second on seven points, two ahead of Shakhtar Donetsk who snatched a late 3-2 win at Hoffenheim to keep alive their hopes of reaching the last 16.
Juventus clinched a place in the Champions League knockout stages when a brilliant Cristiano Ronaldo assist set up Mario Mandzukic to give them a 1-0 win over Valencia on Tuesday. The Serie A champions had struggled to break down Valencia’s defence until Joao Cancelo slipped the ball to Ronaldo in the Valencia area in the 59th minute of the Group H clash. Ronaldo wrong-footed Gabriel Paulista with some fancy footwork, giving him space to roll a low cross across the face of goal for Mandzukic to turn in from two metres. Juventus top the section with 12 points from five games while Valencia, third with five points, were eliminated after second-placed Manchester United beat Young Boys 1-0.
Matchday five
Tuesday 27 November
Group E: AEK Athens 0-2 Ajax, Bayern München 5-1 Benfica
Group F: Hoffenheim 2-3 Shakhtar, Lyon 2-2 Manchester City
Group G: CSKA Moskva 1-2 Viktoria Plzeň, Roma 0-2 Real Madrid
Group H: Manchester United 1-0 Young Boys, Juventus 1-0 Valencia
