UEFA Champions League: Bayern beats Slovan but lacks automatic qualification; Dortmund qualifies

Bayern Munich released the Slovan Bratislava 3-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday, but the Germans missed a finish greater than eight and an automatic qualification and will participate in a playoff series for a place in the round of 16.

The Bavarians, needing a victory by a big margin to have a chance to finish in the top eight, had almost 80% possession at the start.

The pressure borne fruit after eight minutes when Joshua Kimmich floated a cross in the box and that Thomas Mueller not marked hoofed his head for the head.

Bayern continued to move forward, but a sensational backup of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was needed to refuse the Tigran Barshyan which would have been a surprise equalizer in the break in the 28th.

Harry Kane got closer before the break, but did better in the 63rd when he headed for his second goal.

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Bayern, which established a record of the Champions League with an undefeated 34th home game in the group / League of the competition phase, was desperate to add more goals and Leroy Sane struck the woodwork before Kingsley Coman do 3-0.

But he gave his opponent too much space and Slovan struck in the second half of stops through Marko Tolic to leave Bayern in 12th place on 15 points of his eight matches. Slovan finished 35th.

The first eight qualifies automatically while the following 16 clubs enter the scene of the playoffs. The draw for matches in the playoffs will take place on Friday.

Dortmund takes over Shakhtar Donetsk

Borussia Dortmund participated in the eliminations of the direct elimination phase of the Champions League with a 3-1 home victory against the Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday, with the Guinean striker Serhou Guirassy marking two goals in the first half while the ‘Ukrainian team has been eliminated.

The eight best teams passing directly to the last 16 and those placed from ninth to 24th have headed for the two -legged qualifying series for the remaining eight places, the finalists defeated in 2024 Dortmund finished the league phase in the 10th Place with 15 points. Shakhtar finished 27th in seven points.

The Ramy Bensebaini of Borussia Dortmund celebrates the scoring of his third goal against the Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League. | Photo credit: Reuters

A first 2025 first victory was only the tonic Dortmund needed as a result of a bad form that saw coach Nuri Sahin pulled a week ago, with his replacement Mike Tullberg snatched from the U19 side of the club To pass it up to the KO stage.

Guirassy gave the advantage to his team in the 17th minute, taking care of the box and leading Karim Adeyemi’s shot in front of the goalkeeper with his thigh, and the Guinea attacker caught his second just before the break, clinging At Julian Brandt’s pass and taking a touch before shooting beyond Dmytro Riznyk.

The 28 -year -old almost finished his tripled in the first minute of the second half when he obtained a powerful downward head with a free kick, but Riznyk reacted superbly to direct the ball to security.

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Visitors were thrown a lifeline in the 50th minute when Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel took a bad touch that allowed Marlon Gomes to leap and lead the ball into the net to make it 2-1.

Shakhtar’s riznyk had to be again at its best in the 66th minute, obtaining a strong hand at the head of Ramy Bensebaini from another free kick to tip it over the derivative bar just off the nearby post.

All hope that the visitors were turned off when Ramy Bensebaini of Dortmund scored with an effort chipped in the 79th minute to conclude the three points for the hosts and put an end to the European Shakhtar adventure for this season.

With the draw for the playoffs with direct elimination Friday, Dortmund will face either the Brugge club in Belgium or the Portuguese sport and the victory, he would have set up there for a meeting with Olympique Lyonnais de France or Aston Villa.