Champions League: Copenhagen beat Galatasaray to reach last 16

CLEAR VISION: Lens' Neil El Aynaoui, centre, kicks the ball ahead of Sevilla's Ivan Rakitic. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

In the end, it didn’t matter what Manchester United did.

Copenhagen’s 1-0 win over Galatasaray on Tuesday booked the Danish champion’s place in the knockout stage of the Champions League from second place in Group A and ensured that even a United win over Bayern Munich wouldn’t have been enough for Erik ten Hag’s troubled team.

United, who lost 1-0 to Bayern, had needed Copenhagen and Galatasaray to draw to keep its hopes alive. Galatasaray finished third and will drop into the Europa League, while United ended up rock bottom.

Lukas Lerager scored the only goal of the game but was later sent off.

Meanwhile, Dani Ceballos scored late for Real Madrid to come from behind to beat Union Berlin 3-2 and complete a perfect Champions League group stage.

Ceballos grabbed the winner in the 89th minute, four minutes after Union substitute Alex Král equalized and kept alive Union’s hopes of clinching a Europa League place. 

The Germans had needed a win and a favor from Napoli against Braga in the other group game to clinch a Europa League spot as the third-place finisher in the group.

Instead, Madrid made it six wins from six games in Group C. It’s the third time Madrid have achieved the feat after doing so in 2011 and 2014.

The 14-time champion were already assured of topping the group, but coach Carlo Ancelotti said his team wanted to show its respect for the competition by naming a strong starting lineup including Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo and Luka Modrić.

They dominated the first half, but Union goalkeeper Frederik Rønnow saved Modrić’s penalty in the 45th, then launched a huge kickout that Kevin Behrens headed on and David Alaba failed to control. 

Kevin Volland held off Lucas Vázquez’s challenge to give Union an unlikely lead before the break.

Rodrygo crossed from the right for Joselu to equalize in the 61st and Fran García set up Joselu’s second from the other side in the 72nd.

Joselu thought he’d sealed the result, but Madrid needed Ceballos to be sure.

In the same group, Napoli produced a confidence-boosting 2-0 win over Braga that secured the Italian team a spot in the knockout round.

An own goal from Serdar Saatci put Napoli ahead then Victor Osimhen added another before the break at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Napoli had lost three straight across all competitions under new coach Walter Mazzarri, who replaced the fired Rudi Garcia last month.

Elsewhere, Real Sociedad capped an impressive return to Europe’s elite by winning their group for the first time.

A 0-0 draw at Inter Milan on Tuesday was enough to see the Spanish side top Group D, ahead of the Nerazzurri — last season’s runner-up — on goal difference. The two teams finished the group stage level on points and on head-to-head after they also drew in their opening match.

Sociedad has conceded only two goals and are unbeaten in their first season back in the Champions League in a decade.

Both teams were already qualified for the knockout stage but the match at San Siro was a direct battle for the top spot and the chance to avoid some of the stronger teams in the last 16.

Arthur Cabral’s backheel goal in stoppage time gave Benfica a 3-1 win over Salzburg, with the late strike securing the Portuguese club a spot in the Europa League playoffs.

The goal was enough for Benfica to finish ahead of the Austrian side based on goals scored in the head-to-head tiebreaker. The teams finished with four points each in Group D.

Earlier, Angelo Fulgini's goal deep in stoppage time gave RC Lens a 2-1 win at home to Sevilla that secured third place in Champions League Group B and a spot in the Europa League.

Sevilla, Europa League champions for the seventh time last season, finished bottom of the group on two points, while Lens, who needed just a draw to claim third place, ended with eight points, one behind PSV in second, while Arsenal topped the group on 13.

Lens went ahead in the 63rd minute with a penalty converted by Przemyslaw Frankowski but Sergio Ramos equalised from the penalty spot for Sevilla in the 79th minute.

Sevilla piled on the pressure in the final minutes but were unable to find another, and Fulgini's goal in the sixth minute of added time gave Lens the win.

Reuters