Another Champions League game-week has come and gone with all four of the English teams confirming their place in the round of sixteen.
After victories for Manchester United and Chelsea on Tuesday, both Liverpool and Manchester City were in action last night, with both teams looking to cement their places at the top of their respective groups.
Liverpool hosted Portuguese giants Porto at Anfield in a game that was nothing more than a formality.
Liverpool had already guaranteed themselves a place in the last 16 having yet to lose a game in a group that had been hailed as the group of death. Jurgen Klopp’s men, however, didn’t seem to get the memo.
They have breezed past every team in their group, including Athletico Madrid and AC Milan, and last night was no different.
In the first half, Porto seemed to be doing a good job of keeping Liverpool at bay whilst managing a few half chances themselves.
But despite Porto’s first-half resilience, Liverpool took the game away from them with a dominant second-half performance.
Thiago Alcantara smashed Liverpool into the lead with a sublime strike from range that flew into the bottom right corner, and 20 minutes later Mo Salah continued his fine form and scored to give Liverpool a two-goal lead and the three points.
Jurgen Klopp will be delighted with his team who have won every game in their group with one remaining and are surely one of the favourites to go all the way this year.
Thirty-five miles to the west, Manchester City were also in action against Ligue 1 table-toppers Paris Saint Germain.
Both clubs had already guaranteed a place in the round of 16 so you may have been forgiven for thinking neither club would really go for it.
But instead, fans were treated to a lively game from two of the top teams in Europe.
The Etihad Stadium was completely sold out for this tie, which might have been due to a certain little magician.
However, although Lionel Messi was in the building, he seemed to look a little lost at times as his PSG side was defeated 2-1 by the reigning Premier League Champions.
PSG took the lead through a Kylian Mbappe goal in the 50th minute, but the Parisian giants were unable to hold on after a superb City rally that saw Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus find the net, securing the three points for City.
Whilst PSG will still go through to the next round, they do look like they may struggle against the top teams. Despite probably being the best team in the world on paper, their front three of Neymar, Mbappe and Messi don’t seem to be clicking which could prove costly in the knockout rounds.
With one game still to play, all four English teams have made it into the round of sixteen of the Champions League.
Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Manchester City all have to potential to make a deep run in the knockout rounds.
Given that some of Europe’s top teams have been underperforming this year, another all-English final could be on the cards.
