Bayern Munich needed a stoppage-time goal to see off Celtic and secure a place in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday, while AC Milan were dumped out by Feyenoord and both Club Brugge and Benfica also advanced. In Germany, Bayern were defending a 2-1 lead over Celtic in their play-off tie from last week’s first leg but the Bundesliga leaders were unable to put the tie to bed, with Harry Kane hitting the bar before half-time.
Instead it was Celtic who went ahead on the night on 63 minutes thanks to Nicolas Kuehn, the former Bayern player, who slotted low into the net after a failed attempt to win the ball by Kim Min-jae.
That meant the tie was heading for extra time, but Bayern ultimately would not need to go that far as they scored in the fourth minute of injury time.
Alphonso Davies bundled the ball in from close range to make the score 1-1 on the night and clinch the tie for six-time European champions Bayern 3-2 on aggregate.
Vincent Kompany‘s team will find out their last-16 opponents when the draw is made on Friday, but it will be either German rivals Bayer Leverkusen or Atletico Madrid.
“Of course, we always want to dominate and be much better than the opponent, especially here. But the result is always the most important thing,” Kompany told UEFA.com
It was a heartbreaking way for Celtic to go out but the Scottish champions will take heart from their performance over the two legs.
“It never looked like we were going to concede the goal that we did and sadly for us, we did. I can only take immense pride from the performance and the guys gave everything,” said Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.
Earlier, seven-time European Cup winners Milan were eliminated by Feyenoord, a 1-1 draw at San Siro taking the Dutch club through 2-1 on aggregate.
Santiago Gimenez, playing against the club he left just last month, had put Milan ahead on the night from close range in the first minute to level the tie on aggregate.
However, Milan had Theo Hernandez sent off early in the second half for a second booking, and Feyenoord levelled on the night through Julian Carranza on 73 minutes.
The visitors had Givairo Read shown a red card at the end of the game after they had held on to win the tie.
They could now come back to San Siro in the next round, with Inter Milan and Arsenal their two possible opponents.
Benfica and Club Brugge through
In Lisbon, Benfica drew 3-3 at home with Monaco to win their play-off tie 4-3 on aggregate and go through to play either Barcelona or Liverpool next.
Having won 1-0 in Monaco last week, the Portuguese giants extended their aggregate lead when Kerem Akturkoglu opened the scoring on the night midway through the first half.
Monaco came roaring back with Takumi Minamino and Eliesse Ben Seghir netting either side of half-time to level the tie on aggregate.
Vangelis Pavlidis scored a penalty, his seventh goal in his last six Champions League games, to make it 2-2 on the night, only for substitute George Ilenikhena to hit back for Monaco.
However, the tie swung decisively back towards Benfica as Orkun Kokcu made it 3-3 on the night on 84 minutes.
“It was a tough night, we knew Monaco would put pressure on us from the start and we felt it, we didn’t play our best game,” Kokcu told broadcaster SportTV.
“Still, we’re happy to have progressed to the last 16. I’m happy to have contributed to the result.”
Teenage starlet Chemsdine Talbi scored twice as Club Brugge claimed a 3-1 victory away to Atalanta in Italy to win their tie 5-2 on aggregate.
Talbi’s brace was followed by a superb Ferran Jutgla strike as the Belgians built on their 2-1 win at home in last week’s first leg and advanced to a last 16 tie against either Lille or Aston Villa.
Atalanta had 29 attempts on goal but were punished on the break by the Belgians and Ademola Lookman’s reply at the start of the second half was scant consolation.
Lookman also had a penalty saved while Atalanta captain Rafael Toloi was sent off late on, as last season’s Europa League winners bowed out.
The remaining play-off second legs will take place on Wednesday, with the standout fixture seeing Real Madrid defend a 3-2 first-leg lead at home to Manchester City.
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