The UEFA Champions League group stage is (almost) complete with all but one of the games wrapped up on a dramatic night Wednesday. Barcelona suffered a familiar humbling at the hands of Bayern Munich, losing 3-0 in a match they needed to win as Benfica cruised to a 2-0 home against Dynamo Kyiv. Though Xavi's side started well in the Allianz Arena, they were swatted aside by a better quality opponent, Thomas Muller netting his 50th Champions League goal (eight of which have come against Barca) before a Leroy Sane howitzer and Jamal Musiala goal added to the scoreline.
In Group F, Young Boys fell short of the win they needed to reach the Europa League, drawing 1-1 against a much-changed Manchester United side that was already assured of first place. Meanwhile, Atalanta and Villarreal will face off on Thursday, their clash postponed due to adverse weather conditions in Italy.
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Lille cruised to the top of Group G, Jonathan Ikone providing two goals in a 3-1 win over Wolfsburg, while Karim Adeyemi and Noah Okafor combined for Salzburg's only goal against Sevilla that earned them second place. The Austrians are the first side from their country to progress from the group stages of a European Cup since Wacker Innsbruck did so in 1990-91.
In the early games, Juventus cruised to a 1-0 win over Malmo, Moise Kean netting the winner in the first half off a Federico Bernadeschi cross. To secure top spot Massimiliano Allegri's side needed a favor from Zenit, one which they got in the most spectacular of fashions as Magomed Ozdoev earned the hosts a 3-3 draw in Saint Petersburg.
The much-maligned Timo Werner and Kepa Arrizabalaga looked like being Chelsea's heroes, the former scoring the opener before goals from Claudinho and Serdar Azmoun punished lax defending from a much changed version of the holders' side. Zenit might have been out of sight but for a string of fine saves from Kepa before Werner returned to the fore in the second half, squaring for Romelu Lukaku to equalize before picking the ball up off Christian Pulisic to net his third goal in as many group stage games. That seemed like it would be enough, but Chelsea failed to clear a cross that was thumped into the top corner by Ozdoev, sending the Blues down to second in the group.
Champions League fixtures, results
Group E
Bayern Munich 3, Barcelona 0
Benfica 2, Dynamo Kyiv 0
Group F
Manchester United 1, Young Boys 1
Atalanta vs. Villarreal (postponed to Dec. 9, 1 p.m. ET | Paramount+)
Group G
Wolfsburg 1, Lille 3
Red Bull Salzburg 1, Sevilla 0
Group H
Zenit Saint Petersburg 3, Chelsea 3
Juventus 1, Malmo 0
Game of the day
Bayern Munich 3, Barcelona 0: It was not the most high-quality match, the most surprising or the one that was packed with the most incidents but for sheer epoch defining spectacle there could be no choice other than Barcelona crashing out at the group stage. This is simply not something that is supposed to happen to one of the biggest clubs in the world, one that has been a perennial figure in the business end of the Champions League. Some of Xavi's players were toddlers the last time Barcelona missed out on the knockout rounds; the manager himself was in the first flourishes of his great career at the Camp Nou.
This particular period in Barcelona history seems destined to be remembered for the drubbings Bayern meted out on them, the 8-2 that sent Lionel Messi into paroxysms of doubt, and this hammering that sent them crashing into the Europa League. In the first of those games they were woeful, the harsh truth was that in the second the performance was not that much worse than could be reasonably expected from this group of players.
Against such inferior opposition Bayern were ruthless. Muller's header was his typical mix of awkward elegance, Sane's howitzer was one of the goals of the night, Jamal Musiala's third cruelly Guardiolaesque. Is this the lowest ebb on Barcelona's slide? Time will tell but it was a moment of major significance.
Goal of the day
Sane's thunderous strike deserves plenty of praise as does the wonderful hooked finish by Mason Greenwood at Old Trafford but for sheer "where did that come from" brilliance it has to be Magomed Ozdoev's bolt from the blue to smash Chelsea's plans to top Group H. Could Kepa have done more than get a fingertip to it? Probably not, such was the force with which it was hit.
Player of the day
So often Timo Werner has been the cause of great frustration for Chelsea fans, the player who spurns the chance to make life easier for his defenders by taking the chances that are laid on a plate for him. So it will be a bitter irony for the German that on the night of his best performance for the Blues he was unable to make up for the failings of those at the other end of the pitch.
Werner was impressive in front of goal, finishing the easy chance early on, calmly rolling the ball to Romelu Lukaku so he could get off the net and fizzing a wonderful low drive into the net to put Chelsea 3-2 up. There have been rather few false dawns for the former RB Leipzig forward since he moved to England; when he has built momentum it has tended to sustain itself for several games. On a night of serious disappointment for Thomas Tuchel he will hope that Werner getting back among the goals proves to be good news in the long run.
Most disappointing performance
Perhaps it was just their misfortune to run into a Lille side building real momentum in this competition but Wolfsburg departed the European stage with a deep whimper, an underwhelming display in which they all too easily allowed their visitors to run rampant through them. Outside of dead balls they created just four chances and one shot on target, Renato Steffen's late consolation when many of his teammates seemed to have given up the ghost.
Those dead balls, though dangerously delivered by Maximilian Arnold often looked to be more effective attacking weapons for Lille than they did Wolfsburg, the visitors catching the German side napping off corners and free-kicks, most notably when Jonathan Ikone charged up the right before cutting the ball across goal for Burak Yilmaz to score the opener. This was a deeply disappointing end to the Champions League season for a side already on their second manager of the year, one who certainly don't look like they'll be back next year.
It's not over yet
There's still one game to come, and it's one of the big ones. Atalanta and Villarreal will shoot out for second spot in Group F at 7 p.m. local time in Bergamo on Thursday, providing there is no repeat of the snowstorm that ruined the game. The hosts, whose fast interplay would hardly suit a snowbound pitch, will perhaps not be too disappointed to keep their visitors waiting for kick off.
"The referee [Anthony Taylor] tried to get us to play, he wanted to see how the weather developed and we cleared the turf, but the snow continued to come down," Atalanta director Umberto Marino said after the decision had been taken. "The official was intelligent, involved the two coaches in the decision. The players had to be protected from potential danger, the referee spoke to the players and coaches, everyone agreed with the decision. In these conditions, there was no alternative."
