Final UCL Table and Review After Liverpool and Barcelona Qualify After Their Respective Wins
It's seven games and seven wins for Arne Slot's Liverpool as they defeated Lille 2-1 to continue their stay at the top of the new-look Champions League.
Through to the Last 16 with a game to spare, Liverpool initially struggled to break out of the close-run opening exchanges against a Lille side that were unbeaten in their last 21 matches across all competitions.
However, a bit of trademark Salah magic was enough to send the hosts into the break on top, as he dinked Chevalier following a fine pass from Jones in the 34th minute.
While an offensively reticent Lille did manage to restore parity in the 62nd minute with David's rebound finish, a quick response from Slot's side was enough to silence the barks from Les Dogues' away end. Just five minutes after the visitors' goal, Elliott powered home via a deflection off Mukau to ultimately keep the flawless European run on course.
Lille exceeded their 0.47 xG. On the contrary, while unsuccessfully peppering Chevalier in the closing minutes, Liverpool underperformed from their eventual 2.23 xG.
A frantic end to a night full of goals and rain-soaked mistakes at both ends of the pitch as Barcelona emerged with a win in Lisbon.
Pavlidis' hat-trick shocked Barcelona before the break as he punished slack defending and a pair of Szczesny howlers to put the hosts 3-1 up.
Lewandowski's first-half penalty kept Barcelona in the game after the restart, as Raphinha's comedy 'header' closed the gap, before Araujo's unfortunate own goal handed the initiative back to Benfica.
Flick's side kept on plugging away though, as Lewandowski again slotted home from the penalty spot and Garcia's header made it 4-4 in the dying minutes of normal time.
But, there was to be one final twist, as Raphinha raced away to secure an outrageous victory for Barcelona. Respective xG tallies of 3.28 and 3.69 show just how much goalmouth action there was in this game as Barcelona move to the brink of an automatic Round of 16 knockout spot.
Here is the Current Standings;