Messi fires Barca’s advance, Leipzig through with draw

A Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona booked their place in the Champions League knockout stages on Wednesday by crushing a desperate Borussia Dortmund 3-1, while RB Leipzig made the last 16 for the first time with an incredible stoppage time comeback.

Lucien Favre’s position as Dortmund coach looks increasingly in peril following the thumping at the Camp Nou, orchestrated by a sensational Messi, that ensured Barca’s progress to the last 16 as Group F winners and leaves the Germans in danger of not qualifying.

The Argentine scored one and set up the other two for Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann to inflict a punishing defeat on Dortmund and move up to 11 points, four ahead of the Germans and Inter Milan, who won 3-1 at Slavia Prague.

“He (Messi) was incredible,” said Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde.

“It’s all about what he does and when he does it. It was a performance to put us through.”

Messi got the ball rolling with a neat pass which allowed Suarez to open the scoring in the 29th minute, before the Uruguayan returned the favour four minutes later to lay on Messi for his 613th Barca goal on his 700th appearance.

Messi, who has scored 10 times in his last nine games, was also at the heart of the goal which extinguished Dortmund’s hopes of a result in the 67th minute, slipping a wonderful through ball for Griezmann that the Frenchman could happily stroke first time past Roman Burki.

Dortmund slip down to third behind Antonio Conte’s Inter side, who roared to a fine win which keeps alive their hopes of a place in the next round.

Meanwhile, Leipzig made the knockout stages in dramatic style after Emil Forsberg fired them back from two goals down in the final minute to draw 2-2 with Benfica.

The Germans needed a point to qualify but looked down and out as the match dragged towards added time, but Forsberg pulled a goal back from the penalty spot in the 90th minute before hitting the leveller six minutes later, sparking wild celebrations.

“Reaching the knockout stages for the first time in the club’s history means that we’re doing the right things and moving in the right direction. I’m just so proud,” said Forsberg.

The draw gave Lyon a big let-off after they failed to snatch a knockout spot when they fell to 2-0 defeat at Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Rudi Garcia’s team looked in peril of not qualifying at all from Group G after the loss but Leipzig’s last gasp efforts mean they will go through with a win over the Bundesliga side on Dec.10.

Agence France-Presse

Champions League results on Wedensday:
Group E: Genk (BEL) 1 (Samatta 85) Salzburg (AUT) 4 (Daka 43, Minamino 45, Hwang 69, Haaland 87); Liverpool (ENG) 1 (Lovren 65) Napoli (ITA) 1 (Mertens 21); Group F: Barcelona (ESP) 3 (Suarez 29, Messi 33, Griezmann 67) Borussia Dortmund (GER) 1 (Sancho 77); Slavia Prague (CZE) 1 (Soucek 37-pen) Inter Milan (ITA) 3 (Martinez 19, 88, Lukaku 81); Group G: RB Leipzig (GER) 2 (Forsberg 90-pen, 90+6) Benfica (POR) 2 (Pizzi 20, Carlos Vinicius 59); Zenit Saint Petersburg (RUS) 2 (Dzyuba 42, Ozdoev 84) Lyon (FRA) 0; Group H: Lille (FRA) 0 Ajax (NED) 2 (Ziyech 2, Promes 59); Valencia (ESP) 2 (Soler 40, Wass 82) Chelsea (ENG) 2 (Kovacic 41, Pulisic 50)