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Neymar of Paris Saint-Germain celebrates.
Neymar corset helped Paris saint germain to a 3-1 vital victory over United manchester on Wednesday that brought the French club a short distance from the Champions League last 16, while Borussia Dortmund secured his qualification for the next round and Olivier Giroud scored all four goals in Chelsea’s 4-0 strokes of Seville.
PSG could have been on the brink of elimination from Group H with a defeat at Old Trafford, but Neymar overtook last season’s runners-up in the sixth minute and the world’s most expensive player sealed their victory in injury time.
In the middle, a Marcus Rashford shot entered Danilo Pereira to equalize United in the first half, and Edinson Cavani hit the crossbar against his former club.
Marquinhos pushed the French champions back midway through the second half and the game looked good for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team when Fred was sent off for a second yellow, having been lucky enough to escape a red card early on. .
Neymar’s latest deciding factor could prove crucial as he gives PSG the head-to-head advantage following United’s 2-1 win in Paris in October.
“We had great opportunities, great moments and that’s the difference when you get to the big games,” Solskjaer said.
There is a three-way tie on nine points at the top of the group with RB Leipzig right in the fight after Norwegian forward Alexander Sorloth scored in injury time to give them a 4-3 win at Istanbul Basaksehir.
Irfan Can Kahveci’s superb hat-trick seemed to have salvaged a tie for Basaksehir, who rallied from 3-1 to tie. Yussuf Poulsen, Nordi Mukiele and Dani Olmo also scored for Leipzig.
It all means that PSG now only need to draw at home to Basaksehir next week to qualify.
“We have almost qualified, which means we have not qualified yet. That is the reality. Being almost pregnant does not mean that you are pregnant,” said PSG manager Thomas Tuchel.
United also only require one point when they visit Leipzig, but they will be out if they lose, while the Germans in that case would pass.
Dortmund secured their progress after a 1-1 draw at home to Lazio in Group F, despite losing Erling Braut Haaland to a leg injury.
Raphael Guerreiro put the Germans ahead, but Ciro Immobile’s penalty against his former team put Lazio on par.
Lazio will join Dortmund in the next round if they avoid defeat to Club Brugge next week.
The Belgians are two points behind and still in the fight after beating Zenit Saint-Petersburg 3-0, with Belgian international teenager Charles De Ketelaere leading them, Hans Vanaken adding a penalty and Noa Lang also scoring.
The performance of the night came from Giroud, as the French forward scored all four goals in Chelsea’s 4-0 win over Sevilla.
In his second start this season, Giroud produced two beautiful finishes before going in to make it 3-0 and then winning and converting a late penalty.
The 34-year-old is the oldest player to score a hat-trick in the competition since the great Hungarian Ferenc Puskas in 1965 with Real Madrid against Feyenoord.
Both teams had already finished, but the victory allowed Chelsea to secure first place in Group E.
“Amazing solo performance by Olivier. Delighted with him, delighted with the team,” Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, the last Chelsea player to score four goals in a game in 2010, told BT Sport.
In the same group, Marcus Berg’s goal gave Krasnodar a 1-0 win over Rennes, meaning the Russians will play in the Europa League in the new year.
History was made in Turin when France’s Stephanie Frappart became the first woman to referee a men’s Champions League match when Juventus beat Dynamo Kiev 3-0.
The match also stood out because Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 750th career goal, his 132nd record in the Champions League.
Federico Chiesa and Álvaro Morata also scored for Juve, who had already qualified from Group G before the game, along with Barcelona.
The Catalans maintained their perfect record and kept on course to win the group by beating Ferencvaros 3-0 in Budapest without the rested Lionel Messi. Antoine Griezmann and Martin Braithwaite scored before Ousmane Dembélé converted a penalty.
