Bayern Munich, Juventus make last 16 in Champions League

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Bayern Munich and Juventus have qualified for the UEFA Champions League last 16 stage late Tuesday.

German club Bayern hammered Portuguese opponents Benfica 5-2 in a Group E match at Munich's Allianz Arena that Polish star Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick in his 100th Champions League appearance.

But he missed a penalty against Benfica.

Serge Gnabry and Leroy Sane added for Bayern, while Morato and Darwin Nunez were the scorers for Benfica.

Lewandowski, 33, has scored 81 Champions League goals in his career, surpassing the 80-goal threshold in 100 matches in this tournament.

Meanwhile, Lionel Messi has done it in 102 Champions League matches and Cristiano Ronaldo scored 80 goals in 116 games.

Lewandowski has scored 64 Champions League goals for Bayern since 2014.

The Poland striker netted 17 others for Borussia Dortmund in 2011-2014.

Following the 5-2 win, Bayern led Group E, winning all their four matches to have 12 points.

Second-place Barcelona have six and Benfica have four points.

Dynamo Kyiv from Ukraine are quite desperate in the group with one point in four games.

In the next fixture on Nov. 23, Bayern will visit Dynamo Kyiv, and Barcelona will host Benfica.

- Juve reach last 16

Italy's Juventus beat Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg 4-2 in Turin's Allianz Stadium to bag the Round of 16 ticket.

Juventus' Argentine forward Paulo Dybala scored two goals, including a second-half penalty in a Group H match.

The other Juventus forwards, Federico Chiesa and Alvaro Morata, added one goal each.

Leonardo Bonucci scored an own goal and Iranian forward Sardar Azmoun netted for Zenit.

Dybala, 27, has now 18 Champions League goals for Juventus.

He skipped a former Juventus forward Filippo Inzaghi, who scored 17 goals for the Turin club.

Dybala is now in third place in Juventus' all-time rankings.

Ex-forwards David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero are the best two Juventus forwards in this category.

Trezeguet racked up 25 Champions League goals, and the club's legendary player Del Piero had 42 goals in the competition to top the club rankings.

Following the 4-2 win over Zenit, Juventus have 12 points to top Group H.

Second-place Chelsea have nine points to pursue the leaders.

Zenit are in the third spot with three points.

Meanwhile, Malmo do not have any point to be eliminated from the 2021-22 Champions League campaign.

On the next matchday of the group, Juventus will face Chelsea in UK and Zenit will visit Malmo in Sweden.