Champions League scores, takeaways: Inter, Man City, PSG, Real Madrid clinch; Milan still alive; Dortmund out

There's still plenty to play for heading into the final matchday of the group stage in December

Champions League Matchday 5 is now behind us with some lopsided results. Manchester City took care of business at home to win Group A behind goals from Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus. Thanks to RB Leipzig 5-0 win, PSG have book their tickets to the knockout stage as second-place finishers with a game to go.

AC Milan left things as late as possible as an 87th-minute header from Junior Messias gave them their first Champions League victory since November of 2013. A pinpoint cross by Franck Kessie was just enough to get a head on for the 1-0 advantage and to keep them alive for the final matchday. With Liverpool defeating Porto, Milan can punch a ticket to the knockout stage by beating a presumed weaker Liverpool squad paired with a Porto loss or draw to Atletico Madrid.

In Group C, Ajax stayed perfect in a comeback victory over Besiktas. Sebastian Haller keeps up his golden boot campaign with a brace from the bench to turn things around. With a 3-1 victory over Dortmund, Sporting are also through unless they lose by a lot to Ajax due to their 10-goal advantage in goal difference and the injured Erling Haaland's squad have failed reach the last 16.

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To round things out Real Madrid and Inter are through as La Liga giants got the job done in a revenge match with Sheriff and the Nerazzurri blanked Shakhtar Donetsk to secure second place in the group.

Champions League results

Group A
Manchester City 2, PSG 1 
Club Brugge 0, RB Leipzig 5 

Group B
Atletico Madrid 0, AC Milan 1 
Liverpool 2, Porto 0 

Group C
Besiktas 1, Ajax 2 
Sporting 3, Borussia Dortmund 1 

Group D
Inter Milan 2, Shakhtar Donetsk 0 
Sheriff 0, Real Madrid 3 

Match of the Day

Mannchester City 2, PSG 1: City were deserved winners in this one and it could've been a more lopsided result after a flurry of early chances were parried by Kaylor Navas in the early going. For almost the entire first half, City ran at PSG and Mauricio Pochettino's side had no answers. But when PSG did generate a chance, they showed that they only needed an inch to give Ederson and the backline trouble, which caused City to stay on their toes. 

PSG nabbed the first goal in the 50th minute as Messi and Ander Herrera played a 1-2 on the edge of the box. Messi played a cross that deflected to Kylian Mbappe. The French attacker didn't miss as his shot had extra venom in it. City countered by bringing on Gabriel Jesus for Oleksandr Zinchenko and were instantly rewarded. After quite the outlet run by Kyle Walker, he was found by Rodri before playing the ball into the box, megging Jesus on the way to Raheem Sterling for the tap-in. Then Jesus got his own goal following an assist from Bernardo Silva in the 76th minute. The result would see City win Group A while PSG qualified in second place.

Top Performer

Pedro Goncalves, Porto: He put on a show as even a missed penalty didn't damper his day. Goncalves took four shots for Porto and converted two into goals as they took down Dortmund 3-1. For his first, a great ball from Sebastian Coates evaded Nico Schulz before Goncalves slotted his finish under Kobel's outstretched body for the opener.

Goncalves' second was quite the bit of skill to ensure that a broken attack wasn't for nothing. Most times that you see a shot like that it is flying into the stands, but not on Wednesday. And while his penalty take wasn't the greatest going for an attempted hat trick, since Pedro Porro was able to follow it up for a goal, they all count the same.

Goal of the day

I don't know how Thiago Alcântara kept this ball at that height from such a distance but still kept wicked pace on it.

Silver medal goal

Most weeks, Toni Kroos would have had the goal of the day.

Most Surprising result

AC Milan 1, Atletico Madrid 0: With their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread, Milan are attempting to get into the dictionary as the definition of leaving it late. An 87th-minute winner by Messias gave the Rossoneri a chance to qualify for the round of 16 on the final matchday. It took until Wednesday to get their first victory in group-stage play and even with that, they still needed Liverpool to defeat Porto but both things happened so Milan will live to fight another day. They'll need a victory over Liverpool along with a Porto loss or draw to make it to the knockouts, but after Wednesday, anything can happen.

Most Disappointing team

Borussia Dortmund: It's not the losing to Sporting and getting knocked out of Champions League that puts them here, it's actually the way they lost that game. Being played off the field by the 40th minute was not what was expected in a game with so much on the line. Even with Erling Haaland injured, a team of this stature is supposed to have other plans, but that wasn't evident. The backline wasn't up to par, and the error by Nico Schulz led to Goncalves' opener. Then when they showed a little fire in the 74th minute, Emre Can was sent off for what seemed like a soft yellow to put the final nail in the coffin. This is a Dortmund team that is one point of league leaders Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, but if Wednesday's match was a glimpse of what is to come, this title challenge won't hold up for long.  

Standings

Here's a look at the groups that played on Wednesday after five matches:

Group A
Manchester City, 12 points (+9 GD)
PSG, 8 points (+2 GD)
RB Leipzig, 4 points (0 GD)
Club Brugge, 4 points (-11 GD)

Group B
Liverpool 15 points (+10 GD)
Porto, 5 points (-5 GD)
Milan, 4 points (-2 GD)
Atletico Madrid, 4 points (-3 GD)

Group C
Ajax, 15 points (+13 GD)
Sporting, 9 points (+4 GD)
Dortmund, 6 points (-6 GD)
Besiktas, 0 points (-11 GD)

Group D
Real Madrid, 12 points (+9 GD)
Inter, 10 points (+5 GD)
Sheriff, 6 points, (-4 GD)
Shakhtar, 1 points (-10 GD)

[Nov 24, 2021 at 4:47 pm ET · Chuck Booth]

BIG GOAL FOR AC MILAN 

Junior Messias with the breakthrough header from a Frank Kiesse cross. This puts AC Milian up 1-0 handing them a lifeline to possibly qualify for the final 16.

[Nov 24, 2021 at 4:40 pm ET · Chuck Booth]

It goes from bad to worse for Dortmund

Sporting's penalty kick was saved but it won't matter as the follow up was headed home by Pedro Porro.

[Nov 24, 2021 at 4:39 pm ET · Chuck Booth]

Ring up the phone and call a goal

Bernardo Silva played a sweet ball that Gabriel Jesus struck home to put City up 2-1

[Nov 24, 2021 at 4:37 pm ET · Chuck Booth]

Dortmund is down to ten

That sound you hear is the door shutting on BVB's Champions League hopes. For his role in a coming together, Emre Can has been dismissed with a second yellow card.

[Nov 24, 2021 at 4:35 pm ET · Chuck Booth]

Neymar makes his way through the entire defense but can't finish the goal. PSG may miss that one as they should be ahead but instead head into the final 15 with things still level.

[Nov 24, 2021 at 4:32 pm ET · Chuck Booth]

Mohamed Salah is inevitable

Latching onto a long ball then playing a 1-2 with Jordon Henderson, Salah is too strong for Porto's defense putting Liverpool up 2-0.

[Nov 24, 2021 at 4:22 pm ET · Chuck Booth]

A floated ball eluded everyone but Raheem Sterling for the goal

Kyle Walker was able to athletically play the ball in from the air to ultimately find Sterling for the toe poke finish.

[Nov 24, 2021 at 4:19 pm ET · Chuck Booth]

Ander Herrera is withdrawn due to injury

Danilo is on now for PSG. Herrera took a knock and couldn't continue. He'll now be replaced as PSG chases and equalizer.

[Nov 24, 2021 at 4:16 pm ET · Chuck Booth]

Benzema scores and Real Madrid is out of sight 

Real is making this look too easy as Benzema nets his 76th Champions League goal. 3-0 advantage to Real Madrid.