Three Spanish sides into Champions League knock-out stage
Thursday, December 10, 2015 @ 10:33 AM
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid are all through to the Champions League last 16, but Gary Neville's Valencia side were defeated 2-0 by Lyon and now drop into the Europa League, where they could face Manchester United.
Afer Real Madrid's goalfest against Malmo on Tuesday night put them through, and Atlético de Madrid topped Group C with a 1-2 win over Benfica in the Estadio Da Luz, a 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday night was enough for Barcelona to reach the knock-out stage of the tournament.
Lionel Messi scored his 80th Champions League goal off a fine Ivan Rakitic pass in the 20th minute, but Javier Hernández equalised almost instantly to restore parity.
Despite having a host of chances to snatch that all important winner, the Bundesliga side could not find the net again, and, like Valencia, face the prospect of Europa League football, while Barça finish the group stages unbeaten for the first time in three seasons.
After his first match in charge, Gary Neville says Valencia's players had "heavy legs" as they were knocked out of the Champions League by Lyon, finishing a lowly third in Group H.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com