Sporting Lisbon 0-5 Man City: Bernardo Silva nets twice as Pep Guardiola's men make Champions League statement. Kylian Mbappe's injury-time strike saw PSG beat Real Madrid 1-0, while Bayer Munich survived Salzburg scare with late equalizer.
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| Image: Bernardo Silva celebrates with Joao Cancelo after scoring against Sporting Lisbon |
City 5-0 Sporting Lisbon
Manchester City underlined their status as Champions League favourites with a ruthless 5-0 thrashing of Sporting Lisbon to effectively book their place in the quarter-finals.
City, runners-up last season, blew Sporting away with a rampant first-half display at the Jose Alvalade Stadium as they became the first side in the competition's history to lead by four goals at the halfway point of a Champions League knockout game.
The rout began when Riyad Mahrez turned home a Kevin De Bruyne cut-back (7), with VAR overturning the initial decision to rule the goal out for offside following a lengthy check.
Bernardo Silva, one of four players in the City team to have previously played for Sporting's bitter rivals Benfica, then doubled their lead with a stunning half-volleyed finish which crashed into the net off the underside of the bar following a corner (17).
The hosts, in the last 16 of the Champions League for only the second time in their history, could not get to grips with City's speed and movement and the punishment continued when poor defending allowed Phil Foden to fire home from Mahrez's low cross (32).
PSG beat Real Madrid 1-0
Kylian Mbappe's injury-time strike saw PSG beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the Parc des Princes.
PSG had appeared to be heading for a frustrating goalless draw in the French capital after Lionel Messi saw his 62nd-minute penalty saved by Thibaut Courtois.
The visitors' giant Belgian goalkeeper guessed correctly and dived low to his left to turn Messi's spot-kick behind for a corner in what looked like being the pivotal moment of the tie.
All this after Mauricio Pochettino's side had dominated most of the clash, only for Mbappe to twice be denied by excellent Courtois stops in each half, before Messi was given the chance to break the deadlock from the spot after Dani Carvajal had foolishly lunged in on Mbappe in the box.
Liverpool 2-0 Inter
Goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah earned a 2-0 win over Inter Milan in the San Siro to put Liverpool in complete control of their Champions League tie.
Jurgen Klopp's side had to withstand pressure against the Italian champions but those two second-half goals mean Liverpool are well placed to reach the quarter-finals.
Inter had their moments with Hakan Calhanoglu coming closest when he latched onto Ivan Perisic's centre and struck the underside of the crossbar with Alisson beaten.
Player ratings
Inter: Handanovic (5), Skriniar (6), De Vrij (6), Bastoni (6), Dumfries (7), Vidal (7), Brozovic (6), Calhanoglu (7), Perisic (7), Martinez (6), Dzeko (6).
Subs Sanchez (6), Ranocchia (n/a), Gagliardini (n/a), Darmian (n/a).
Liverpool: Alisson (6), Alexander-Arnold (7), Konate (8), Van Dijk (8), Robertson (7), Fabinho (6), Thiago (6), Elliott (6), Salah (7), Jota (7), Mane (6).
Subs: Firmino (8), Diaz (7), Keita (6), Henderson (6), Milner (n/a).
Man of the match: Ibrahima Konate.
While Edin Dzeko also had a goal disallowed for offside, Alisson did not actually have a save to make thanks to strong defensive performances from Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk.
When Firmino came off the bench to score, quickly followed by Salah doubling the lead, Liverpool became strong favourites to progress to the last eight going into the second leg at Anfield.
RB Salzburg 1-1 Bayern Munich:
Late Kingsley Coman equaliser sees Champions League last-16 tie finely poised
Kingsley Coman struck a last-minute equaliser as Bayern Munich drew 1-1 at RB Salzburg in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie.
Substitute Chukwubuike Adamu put the Austrian underdogs ahead after 21 minutes and it looked as if the six-time European champions would see their record unbeaten away run in the competition end at 21 games.
But Coman, who scored the winner against Paris Saint-Germain in the 2020 final, latched onto Thomas Muller's flick on to drill home at the far post.
Salzburg started in brisk fashion, but Bayern went close after 10 minutes when Serge Gnabry forced a smart save from Philipp Kohn.
Bayern fell behind after Karim Adeyemi drove at the home defence and Brenden Aaronson touched the ball into the path of Adamu.
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