Man United, Chelsea through in Champions League

ENERGISED BY a change of manager and another opportunistic finish by Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United yesterday qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League with a game to spare.

Ronaldo produced a sublime lobbed finish to put United ahead against Villarreal, and a 90th-minute strike by Jadon Sancho – his first goal since joining for $100 million in the off-season – sealed a 2-0 win to secure progress from Group F.

United were led for the first time by Michael Carrick, following the weekend firing of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and, just like his predecessor, the interim manager was left to be thankful for a goal by the Champions League’s record scorer.

“It’s massive for our season,” United captain Harry Maguire said. “The last couple of months have been nowhere near good enough and we needed to get a result for our season and our fans.”

Carrick put his stamp on the team by dropping Bruno Fernandes and starting Donny van de Beek.

Carrick oversaw a disciplined, if limited, performance by United, until Ronaldo sparked an explosive ending with his 140th goal in the competition. He has scored in all five group stage matches this season.

United moved on to 10 points, three more than Villarreal, and are guaranteed to advance as the winner of Group F, thanks to Atalanta drawing 3-3 at Young Boys. Villarreal can finish tied on points with United, but have an inferior head-to-head record, which is the tiebreaker.

TEAMS ADVANCED

Another English team, defending champions Chelsea, also advanced, on the back of a 4-0 win over already-qualified Juventus. Trevoh Chalobah, Reece James and Callum Hudson-Odoi – who all came through the club’s Cobham academy – found the net before the hour mark. Timo Werner completed the victory.

Barcelona, now coached by former star midfielder Xavi Hernandez, has advanced from their group every season for almost two decades, but a 0-0 draw at home to Benfica means the Spanish club might need to beat Bayern Munich in the final round of games to advance.

“We played a great match but couldn’t score,” Xavi said. “We are optimistic. We are Barcelona and will go to Munich to win that match, just like we try to do against every team. We will play with the same attitude that we played today.”

A win would have guaranteed Barcelona a spot in the knockout stages for the 18th straight season, but they couldn’t capitalise on their chances in what was Xavi Hernández’s coaching debut in the Champions League.

Defender Ronald Araújo thought he had scored the crucial winner in the 83rd, but the goal was disallowed for offside.

The draw kept the Catalan club in second place in Group E, two points ahead of Benfica, but the Portuguese side has the tiebreaker advantage if they beat already-eliminated Dynamo Kyiv at home and Barcelona fail to win against group winners Bayern in Germany in the final round.

All four teams in Group G could still qualify heading into their last games, after wins for Lille and Sevilla over Salzburg and Wolfsburg, respectively.

Meanwhile, Bayern have five wins from five after beating Dynamo Kiev 2-1, with an overhead kick by Robert Lewandowski setting the German champions on their way.