Africa-Press – Nigeria. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to help Juventus stun Barcelona in their UEFA Champions League clash at the Camp Nou on Tuesday night.
The Italian side needed to score three unreplied goals to finish top of the group G, and went on to beat their hosts 3-0.
Ronaldo, who was absent in the first leg of the tie in which Juve lost 2-0 at home, netted his two goals from the spot.
The Portuguese won a controversial penalty in the 14th minute and converted it before Weston McKennie doubled Juventus’ lead on 20 minutes as Barca trailed 2-0 at halftime.
Ronaldo then converted another penalty on 52 minutes to seal victory after VAR awarded a spot kick following a handball offense in the box by Clement Lenglet.
The game was a long-awaited one as world football’s greatest rivals, Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were facing each other for the first time since May 2018.
Messi made key efforts at scoring, but had his shots and freekicks stopped by 42-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who was quite exceptional for Juventus.
Barcelona lost a Champions League group game for the first time since going down 3-1 at Manchester City in 2016.
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In the other game of group G, Dynamo Kyiv won 1-0 over Ferencvárosi to seal third place in the group and drop to Europa League.
In Germany, Manchester United failed to avoid defeat against RB Leipzig as the Premier League side crash out of the competition.
Both sides played a five-goal thriller, with Leipzig advancing to knockout stages with a 3-2 victory.
The Red Devils thought they could pull off a comeback after Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba scored late to reduce a three goal deficit, but the hosts held on to their lead.
The other game of group H between Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir was suspended after players walked off the pitch amid claims of racism after the coach of the Turkish side, Pierre Webo, was shown a red card.
The match was paused on 14 minutes as Istanbul alleged fourth official Sebastian Coltescu used a racist term towards assistant coach, Webo.
At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea played a 1-1 draw with Krasnodar, while Sevilla defeated Rennes 3-1 in the other group E game.
In group F, Dortmund topped the group after beating Zenit st Petersburg 2-1, and Lazio played a 2-2 draw with 10-man Club Brugge to also reach knockout.
Manchester United, Krasnodar, Club Brugge and Dynamo Kyiv finish as third in their respective groups and will drop into the Europa League.
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