NYON: Tottenham and Liverpool completed England’s four-club sweep through the group stage of the Champions League on the last matchday, joining Manchester City and United in the spring’s second round.
Lucas Moura’s dramatic late goal earned Tottenham a 1-1 draw at Barcelona.
Spurs, who had to match Inter Milan’s result against PSV Eindhoven, were heading out of the competition and into the Europa League for the second time in three seasons as they trailed to Ousmane Demebele’s early goal for most of the game and the Italians came from behind to level.
But, having missed chance after chance at the Nou Camp, Moura finally came to Spurs’ rescue as he converted Harry Kane’s cross with five minutes remaining.
It was the least they deserved as only an inspired performance from Barca number two Jasper Cillessen protected his side’s five-year unbeaten run at home in European football, although ultimately they will be grateful to PSV for their favour in Italy.
The Group B winners left Lionel Messi on the substitutes’ bench until midway through the second half.
Liverpool should have coasted to victory in their make-or-break decider against Napoli but in the end progressed with the minimum requirement of a 1-0 win.
Mohamed Salah first-half magic broke the deadlock with a clever piece of penalty-area trickery.
Had Sadio Mane been even close to his sharpest, Jurgen Klopp’s side would have been out of sight without having to worry about the repercussions of conceding – which would have required a clear two-goal victory.
But Liverpool’s European exploits are rarely without drama and had goalkeeper Alisson Becker, a virtual spectator for 90 minutes, not kept out Arkadiusz Milik in added time they would have been staring into the Europa League abyss after Christmas.
It was the sixth time in eight occasions in the Champions League they had progressed to the knockout stage having had to get a result in their final group game.
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