Munich, Feb 19 (IANS) Alphonso Davies’ dramatic last-minute equalizer earned Bayern Munich a 3-2 aggregate victory over Celtic in Champions League playoff.
FC Bayern drew 1-1 against Celtic in the playoffs second leg to advance to the Champions League last 16. Nicolas Kuhn handed Celtic the lead in the second half, but Alphonso Davies scored deep into added time to make it 3-2 on aggregate and send Bayern into the next round.
After a minute’s silence to commemorate the victims of last week’s attack in Munich, Bayern got off to the better start. Gnabry had a header thwarted by a last-ditch block. Callum McGregor then fired over before Kasper Schmeichel parried a Kane shot.
Bayern were reeling for a short spell as Kuhn beat Neuer, with Guerreiro clearing the ball. A Kühn cross then only just evaded Daizen Maeda before the fired wide from 20 yards.
Bayern soon reasserted their dominance, with Schmeichel denying Kane. Guerreiro and Gnabry saw their shots blocked before Kimmich fired just wide, and Kane’s shot off the crossbar meant the contest was goalless at half-time.
Vincent Kompany’s men almost took the lead after the restart, but Schmeichel made a strong save against Goretzka one-on-one. Stanisic and Musiala put efforts off target, but Celtic soon won the ball in Bayern’s half and Kühn slotted past Neuer to level the scores on aggregate.
Schmeichel proved equal to a Coman effort and Neuer denied Maeda before Goretzka glanced a header just wide. Sane miscued and Schmeichel parried a deflected Kimmich shot, but just when it looked as if the tie would go into extra-time, Schmeichel parried a Goretzka header, with Davies on hand to mop up the rebound.
Bayern will be joined by Benfica, Club Brugge and Feyenoord after they also won their knockout phase play-off ties.
Orkun Kokcus late strike helped Benfica squeeze through to the last 16 after a dramatic contest in Lisbon with an aggregate 4-3 win.
Kerem Akturkoglu’s emphatic finish midway through the first half put the hosts in control, only for Takumi Minamino and Eliesse Ben Seghir to hit back either side of half-time to level the tie for Monaco.
Vangelis Pavlidis’ coolly-taken penalty edged the Eagles back in front on aggregate, before substitute George Ilenikhena netted under a minute after coming on. With extra time looming, Kokcu was able to guide in an Alvaro Carreras cross with over 10 minutes remaining.
Two Chemsdine Talbi goals inside the first 27 minutes helped Brugge reach the last 16 in style after sealing 5-2 aggregate win.
Feyenoord are through to the Champions League round of 16 for the first time after securing the draw they required at Stadio San Siro to progress on aggregate. The visitors were stunned after just 37 seconds as their former striker Santiago Gimenez bundled in to level the tie overall.
However, Milan were reduced to ten men when Theo Hernandez was shown a second yellow card six minutes into the second half. Julian Carranza then came off the bench to power in a header from a fine Hugo Bueno cross and seal an aggregate victory for the Eredivisie side.
–IANS
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