Ronaldo and Benzema both bag hat-tricks against Malmo
Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema both scored hat-tricks as Real Madrid thrashed Malmo 8-0 to equal the highest-ever victory in the Champions League.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema both scored hat-tricks as Real Madrid thrashed Malmo 8-0 to equal the highest-ever victory in the Champions League.
Ronaldo netted four times and Mateo Kovacic was also on the score sheet as the 10-time European Cup winners ran riot at the Bernabeu, matching the figures set by Liverpool in December 2007 when they beat Besiktas by the same score. Rafael Benitez has the distinction of being the manager on both occasions.
PSG advanced from Group A behind Real and ended the phase with a 2-0 win courtesy of goals from Lucas Moura and Zlatan Ibrahimovic against Shakhtar Donetsk, who will go into the Europa League.
In Group D, Juventus lost at Sevilla, enabling Manchester City to leapfrog the Italians while Gladbach slipped to the bottom of the table and dropped out of Europe this season. Sevilla will have the chance to defend their Europa League crown after Fernando Llorente headed the only goal of the game against his former club.
While Wolfsburg topped Group B, CSKA Moscow, despite leading through Sergei Ignashevich's 76th-minute penalty, were unable to pull off a shock win over PSV Eindhoven as Luuk de Jong and Davy Propper replied for the Dutch.
Benfica and Atletico Madrid fought it out in Portugal to top Group C and the visitors were 2-1 victors. Saul Niguez and Luciano Vietto gave the La Liga team a two-goal cushion before substitute Konstantinos Mitroglou pulled one back.
The other game in the group between Galatasaray and Astrana finished 1-1 after Selcuk Inan quickly cancelled out Patrick Twumasi's opener for the Kazakhstan club. It was enough to see Galatasaray finish third and qualify for the Europa League.