Barcelona were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League tonight even before they kicked a ball, with the result of Inter Milan’s clash against Viktoria Plzen affecting the Spanish giants.
Inter Milan defeated Plzen 4-0 at San Siro to open a six-point gap over Barcelona, who face Bayern Munich later tonight.
With a better head-to-head record, Inter cannot be overtaken by Barcelona even if the Spaniards win their two games and the Italians lose the one they have left.
In that scenario, both would finish with 10 points, but Inter’s superior head-to-head record would see them through while Barcelona go down to the UEFA Europa League.
Inter were led to victory in the evening kick-off by two goals from Edin Dzeko, one from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and another from Romelu Lukaku, who was making his first appearance in two months.
Viktoria Plzen, who are yet to gain a single point, had in their starting line-up Nigerian striker Fortune Bassey, who was taken off at half-time.
In a battle of Super Eagles stars in Group B, Zaidu Sanusi’s FC Porto hammered Club Brugge, who had Raphael Onyedika in their team.
Left-back Zaidu played for 77 minutes as Porto won 4-0 in Belgium to inch closer to qualification for the knockout rounds, while midfielder Onyedika lasted 80 minutes for already qualified Brugge.
It was the first defeat for Brugge in this season’s UEFA Champions League campaign, with Mehdi Teremi scoring twice for the Portuguese visitors and goalkeeper Diogo Costa saving his third penalty of the campaign.
Brugge still top the group with 10 points, one more than Porto, as Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen battle tonight in a bid to catch up with the Portuguese champions.
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