The penultimate round of games in the UEFA Champions League group phase was held on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and the results have left a mixture of feelings as some teams celebrate their qualifications while others were handed worries.

Tuesday Fixtures

The round of games kicked off with two early fixtures on Tuesday, where Aston Villa were beaten 1-0 away in Monaco thanks to a Wilfred Singo's early header.

The other game that kicked off at the same time saw Atalanta thrash Sturm Graz in a five star performance, which saw five different Goalscorers in a 5-0 victory.

Ademola Lookman came off the bench at halftime whilst the scoreline was 1-0, the reigning CAF Player of the Year winner inspired his team to four more goals, scored one and set-up another in a domineering display.

Charles de Ketelaere, Mateo Retegui, Mario Pasalic and Marco Brescianini were also on the scoresheet for Gian Piero Gasperini's charge as they return to winning waus after disappointing home loss to Napoli in the Serie A during the weekend.

Later at night, the goals were flowing in every stadia except inthe Jan Breydelstadion in Brugge, where Club Brugge played host to Juventus and it finished goalless.

Barcelona came from behind to beat Benfica in a thrilling contest in Lisbon. The host led 1-0, 3-1 and 4-2, but Barcelona, inspired by Raphinha, who scored twice, including a late late winner helped them secure an impressive result on the road.

In the match, Vangelis Pavlidis became the fourth player to score a UEFA Champions League hat-trick against Barcelona after Faustino Asprilla, Andriy Shevchenko, and Kylian Mbappé.

His hat-trick was also the third fastest from the start of a UEFA Champions League game (30 minutes), after Robert Lewandowski vs FC Red Bull Salzburg in 2022 (23 minutes) and Marco Simone vs Rosenborg in 1996 (24 minutes).

Robert Lewandowski also scored a brace in the match, both from penalties while Ronald Araujo scored and own goal, and Eric Garcia came off the bench to score the goal that made it 4-4.

Julian Alvarez's brace helped Atlético Madrid return to winning ways as they came from a goal down to beat Bayer Leverkusen, who took the lead through Piero Hincapie.

Atlético had Pablo Barrios sent off in the first half before conceding just before the interval. They leveled though Alvarez before Hincapie was sent off for Leverkusen, and Alvarez completed his brace on the stroke of the 90th minute.

Borussia Dortmund surrendered an early lead to lose 2-1 at Bologna, leading to the sacking of Nuri Sahin after what was their fourth consecutive losses, and their 11th in 27 games across all competitions this season.

Serhou Guirassy's penalty gave them the lead in the opening 20 minutes. However, the host turned it around with second half goals from Thijs Dallinga and Samuel Illing Junior completed the comeback, and won Bologna their first UEFA Champions League game.

PSV Eindhoven took a 3-0 halftime lead against Red Star Belgrade thanks to a Luuk de Jong brace and a third from Ryan Flamingo. However, the latter got sent off five minutes after the restart to give the host a man advantage for almost the entirety of the second half.

Cherif Ndiaye and Nacer Djiga scored one each to make it 3-2, but the visitors did just enough to see out the points for their third win in the competition this season.

Liverpool continued their 100 percent record in the competition thanks to a 2-1 win over 10 man Lille, whose 21-game unbeaten run was ended on the night in Anfield.

Mohamed Salah opened the scoring in the second half before Mandi was sent off for the visitors. Jonathan David restored parity but that didn't last long as Harvey Elliott's deflected effort restored Liverpool's lead, and sealed the win.

The result saw Arne Slot became the second manager in UEFA Champions League history to win each of their first seven games in charge of a club, after Hansi Flick with Bayern Munich (won first seven between 2019-2021).

In Bratislava, Jamie Leweling scored a first-half brace for Stuttgart, becoming the first to do so for the club in a UEFA Champions League game since Mario Gomez against Lyon in 2007.

Idjessi Metsoko pulled one back for Slovan in the 85th minute but Fabian Rieder restored the cushion two minutes later, as the visitors ran out 3-1 winners on Tuesday.

Wednesday Fixtures 

Benjamin Sesko continued his fine form and scored in a fifth consecutive game to open the scoring for RB Leipzig against Sporting CP in the opening 20 minutes. The lead lasted until the final 15 minutes, when substitute Viktor Gyokeres scored to level matters for the visitors.

Sporting, who had lost their first UEFA Champions League games under their previous three managers would have the unfortunate trend extended to four as Yussuf Poulsen scored three minutes after Gyokeres' leveler, to hand all three points to the host, who registered their foest win in the competition this season, although already eliminated.

In the other early kickoff game, Shakhtar Donesk secured a 2-0 win over Stade de Brestois thanks to first-half goals from Brazilian winger Kevin, and a Georgiy Sudakov's penalty in Gelsemkirchen, Germany.

Later in the evening, AC Milan secured a narrow win over Girona in San Siro thanks to their Mr. Dependable, Rafael Leao, who scored the only goal of the game following a through pass from Ismael Bennacer in the first half.

Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard were all on the scoresheet as Arsenal secured a massive win against Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Champions League, keeping yet another clean sheet to remain the only team yet to concede an open play goal in the competition.

Kai Havertz, with his goal on the night not only equaled his tally of 14 for last season, the goal was also Arsenal's 500th under Mikel Arteta, following his appointment in December 2019.

Real Madrid secured a 5-1 statement win over RB Salzburg, in a game that saw Jude Bellingham registered two assists, making him top the list for most in the UEFA Champions League since signing for Real Madrid in the summer of 2023.

Bellingham, who also reached 24 goal involvement in the competition becomes the third player with most at the age of 21, with only Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland having more at the age.

Vinicius Junior, who scored a brace like his fellow Brazilian Rodrygo Goes on the night, reached 101 goals in the colors of Real Madrid, while Kylian Mbappé continued his hot streak with another goal.

Celtic overcame adversity and nicked a lone winner in a match where they had a goal ruled out and missed a penalty. Loris Benito's own goal was the difference in the end, while Daizen Maeda was sent off for the Scottish champions in the final minute of the game.

Inter stayed resolute defensively as they edge Slavia Prague thanks to a Lautaro Martinez's lone goal in the first half. They kept a sixth clean sheet in the competition, leaving Nordi Mukiele's late goal for Bayer Leverkusen in round six the only one they've conceded so far.

Bayern Munich dominated Feyenoord in Rotterdam but it was the host who had the last laugh as a brace from Santiago Gimenez and a late Ayase Ueda goal secured massive 3-0 win.

In the most anticipated fixture of the round, there was a lot of drama, but host, PSG Paris Saint-Germain defeated Manchester City, who had taken a 2-0 lead early in the second half.

Pep Guardiola's charge looked like they'd be running away with it after Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland both scored after the restart, although they had been second best for most of the first half, with PSG even having a goal disallowed for offside.

However, the host went on to score four goals, each from Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos to seal a convincing 4-2 win in Parc des princes.

That was how it went in all the fixtures of the round seven of the UEFA Champions League group phase.

Standing and Qualification Status 

After the completion of the round seven games, the trio of Liverpool, Barcelona and Arsenal have sealed direct qualifications into the round of 16.

Inter Milan, Atlético Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta, Aston Villa, Lille, AS Monaco, Celtic, Real Madrid, Brest, Juventus, Feyenoord, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich have all secured qualifications for at least the playoffs.

With six more playoff spots yet to be filled, PSV Eindhoven, Club Brugge, PSG Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Benfica, Sporting CP, Stuttgart, Dinamo Zagreb, and Shakhtar Donesk will all battle for it in the final round of games.

Bologna, Sparta Prague, RB Leipzig, Girona, Crvena Zvezda, Sturm Graz, Slovan Bratislava, Young Boys and RB Salzburg have all been confirmed eliminated from the UEFA Champions League group phase.

Top Scorers

Robert Lewandowski extends his tally with a brace of penalties and is now up to nine goals, followed closely by his teammate Raphinha, who also bagged a brace and is on eight.

Lewandowski's brace of penalty goals saw him overtake Lionel Messi (18) and equaled Cristiano Ronaldo for most in the history of UEFA Champions League with 19.

Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior scored twice and moved to seven goals, level with Serhou Guirassy, who scored that one penalty in Dortmund's loss in Bologna.

Another brace hero, Julian Alvarez is on six goals, level with Erling Haaland and Viktor Gyokeres, who both scored one each in their respective team's defeats.

Florian Wirtz and Harry Kane are joined on five goals by Jonathan David, who grabbed Lille's only goal in their loss at Anfield. Ademola Lookman, Charles de Ketelaere and Benjamin Sesko join those who are already on tour goals.

Top Assist Makers

Charles de Ketelaere with one more assist moves above the pack to five, leaving behind Mohamed Salah, Marcos Llorente and Igor Paixao on four.

De Ketelaere, with a goal and an assist on the night became the Belgian with most goal contributions in a single UEFA Champions League season, with nine so far, he overtakes Kevin de Bruyne, who had eight in the 2022/23 season.

Jude Bellingham moves to three assists with his two against Salzburg, moving level with Jamal Musiala, Enzo Milot, Matheus Nunes, Arne Engels, Marko Pjaca and Jules Kounde.