Barca await news on Messi injury

Lionel Messi ended the night on a stretcher instead of the history books as an under-strength Barcelona battled to a goalless draw against Benfica last night.

On a night when Messi needed just one goal to equal Gerd Muller’s record of 85 strikes in a calendar year, the Argentinian magician lasted just 25 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute before being carried off with a knee injury.

Barca said last night that Messi has a bruise on the outside of his left knee, and will undergo further tests today to determine the exact extent of the injury.

Benfica worked several chances but Jorge Jesus’ side could not find the goal they needed to avoid dropping into the Europa League.

An own goal saw Juventus go through to the knockout stages as Group E winners as they edged out Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in Ukraine.

Olexander Kucher inadvertently turned Stephan Lichtsteiner’s cross into his own net in the 56th minute, seeing Juve leapfrog Shakhtar at the top.

Bayern Munich sealed top spot in Group F after they coasted to a 4-1 victory over BATE Borisov at the Allianz Arena. Mario Gomez, one of seven changes, opened the scoring on 21 minutes before Thomas Muller and Xherdan Shaqiri netted shortly after half-time. Sub David Alaba completed the rout with seven minutes remaining before Egor Filipenko grabbed a BATE consolation. Bayern finished above Valencia, who were 1-0 winners at Lille through a 36th-minute Oliveira Jonas penalty.