Champions League: Man City Scales Through As Liverpool Finish Top

Manchester City have scaled through to the playoff knockout round of the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Club Brugge at Etihad Stadium.

The result means that Pep Guardiola maintains his record of progressing from the opening stage of the competition in every year of his managerial career.

Elsewhere, Liverpool finished atop the league phase table despite losing 3-2 to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday as second-placed Barcelona were held at home against Atalanta.

Arsenal and Aston Villa both won to finish in the top eight and secure direct progress to the round of 16, as did Atlético Madrid.

Real Madrid and Bayern Munich won their final games against Brest and Slovan Bratislava, respectively, but face the same fate as City in the playoffs having made slow starts to their continental seasons.

City dominated possession in the first half but failed to create any clear-cut chances, though Ilkay Gündogan did put the ball in the net from an offside position.

They were stung in the half’s closing moments as Brugge counter-attacked and Raphael Onyedika finished calmly after some excellent work from Ferran Jutglà on the left wing.

The Guardiola’s side forced the issue in the second half, with Mateo Kovacic giving his side hope in the 53rd minute with a great solo run through the Brugge midfield and a fine finish, before tricky work from Savinho saw Josko Gvardiol find space on the left-hand side of the box, with his ball in deflecting off Joel Ordóñez and into the net.

Savinho, who came off the bench to spark the comeback, then scored himself in the 77th minute to seal the result.

City’s campaign in Europe this season has seen a number of uncharacteristic collapses, beginning with a 4-1 humbling away to Sporting CP then coached by now-Manchester United boss, Ruben Amorim.

They then threw a three-goal lead away at home to Feyenoord, falling to a 2-0 defeat at Juventus and conceded four against Paris Saint-Germain last Wednesday to put their hopes of progressing in doubt.

However, the win against Brugge means their resurgence continues, with a two-legged playoff tie to come against an opponent to be decided on Friday.