"The penultimate matchday of the Champions League league phase was quite the random outcome generator. The less sense you tried to make of things, the better. Manchester City getting sliced and diced by Bodo/Glimt in Pep Guardiola's first trip to the Arctic Circle? Sure! Sporting CP scoring twice in the last 20 minutes and beating PSG? Okay! Ten-man Copenhagen generating basically all of the good second-half opportunities and taking points from a Napoli team that is now threatened with elimination? Makes sense!"
"Athletic Club, having scored four goals in 6.5 matches, scoring three in 16 minutes to steal three points and send Atalanta from a potential third to 13th in the table? Of course! Tottenham Hotspur, with dismal form and a coach (Thomas Frank) on the brink of getting fired, completely dominating Borussia Dortmund to move quite a bit higher in the Champions League table (fifth) than the Premier League table (14th)? Why not? Qarabag pulled another dramatic upset? Figures!"
The penultimate matchday produced wildly unpredictable Champions League results. Manchester City lost at Bodo/Glimt in Pep Guardiola's first Arctic trip, Sporting CP scored twice late to beat PSG, and Copenhagen — down to ten men — generated the best second-half chances to take points from Napoli. Athletic Club scored three in 16 minutes to defeat Atalanta, Tottenham Hotspur dominated Borussia Dortmund despite poor domestic form and manager uncertainty, and Qarabag pulled another upset. Only Arsenal and Bayern Munich are guaranteed top-eight finishes and byes to the round of 16. Kairat Almaty, Slavia Prague, Villarreal and Eintracht Frankfurt cannot advance; 30 other teams still have stakes.
Read at ESPN.com
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