Thursday’s briefing: Perfect Arsenal and rampant Liverpool reach last 16

Arsenal made it eight straight Champions League wins to finish top of the league-phase group as Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City also sealed their places in the last 16.

Newcastle held holders Paris St Germain 1-1 at Parc des Princes, with both clubs having to settle for a two-legged play-off, while Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Juventus all failed to secure a top-eight finish.

Arsenal first to finish CL league phase with perfect record

Kai Havertz scored and set up two goals on his first start in 357 days as Arsenal saw off Kairat 3-2 to complete a clean sweep of eight victories in the Champions League.

Mikel Arteta’s side were virtually assured of ending the group phase in first place prior to Wednesday’s contest at the Emirates Stadium.

But the hosts made certain of their table-topping status with a relatively straightforward victory against the Kazakh minnows.

Arsenal, who have already beaten Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan, will next be in action on the European stage in March for the last 16.

Liverpool put home sickness behind them to ease into last 16

Liverpool put their domestic problems behind them as they comfortably eased into the last 16 of the Champions League with a 6-0 victory over Qarabag.

In contrast to the Premier League, where Arne Slot’s side have won just five of their last 18 games, Europe has been a fruitful hunting ground and this was their sixth and easiest group-stage victory.

As in Marseille last week Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike – both goalscorers – and Dominik Szoboszlai were the architects but the sight of Mohamed Salah enthusiastically thumping the badge on his chest after scoring his first goal for the club since November 1 was a reminder there is life left in the old guard.

Erling Haaland ended his goal drought as Manchester City sneaked into the last 16 of the Champions League with a 2-0 win over Galatasaray.

Haaland scored for the first time from open play in 10 appearances and Rayan Cherki added a second before half-time as Pep Guardiola’s side saw off the Turkish outfit at the Etihad Stadium to finish eighth.

Joao Pedro leads fightback as Chelsea reach Champions League last 16

Joao Pedro led a Chelsea fightback that saw them through to the Champions League last 16 with two second-half goals to beat Napoli 3-2 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Chelsea had looked like being left to count the cost of poor form on the road in Europe and were facing a third away defeat in four games when Rasmus Hojlund gave Napoli the lead late in the first half after Antonio Vergara had cancelled out Enzo Fernandez’s penalty.

But Pedro, out of nothing, turned everything around, scoring first with a wonderful drive from outside the penalty area in the 61st minute then outpacing the defence to win it for Liam Rosenior’s side in the 82nd minute.

Randal Kolo Muani scores to help Tottenham into last 16

Randal Kolo Muani put an eventful couple of days behind him with a goal to send Tottenham through to the Champions League last 16 with a 2-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.

Kolo Muani was an unused substitute during Spurs’ disappointing 2-2 draw at Burnley on Saturday amid speculation former club Juventus wanted to bring the France forward back this month before he was involved in a car crash on Tuesday.

The PSG loanee was fine and despite a late arrival in Germany, he grabbed the crucial 47th-minute opener against his old team before Dominic Solanke added a second to ease the pressure on under-fire boss Thomas Frank, with Tottenham remarkably able to finish fourth in the league phase of the competition.

Spurs were without 14 players for this tie in Germany, which was untimely for Frank after he faced more criticism from his own supporters on Saturday after the draw with Burnley made it two wins from 14 in the Premier League.

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