Barcelona skipper Lionel Messi was able to mark the occasion of his 700th appearance for his club in style after he scored and also provided two assists.

Messi made his 700th Barcelona appearance during the Champions League clash at home to German Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund.

The Argentine national team skipper provided the opening goal of the game through Luis Suarez who had earlier had a goal ruled out by the VAR technology for offside.

Luis Suarez met a precise pass from Messi before finishing his chance beyond Roman Burki in the Borussia Dortmund goal thus giving the Nou Camp outfit the lead.

It was the 10th goal of the season for the Uruguayan international in the colours of Barcelona this season including the third Champions League goal of the season for him.

His previous two goals came during the 2-1 comeback victory over Italian Serie A side Inter Milan at home on Matchday Two.

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Messi moved from provider to scorer in a matter of minutes as he combined with Luis Suarez before finding the back of the net for the second goal.

Suarez and Messi were able to punish the mistake from experienced Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels.

Messi was also involved in the third and final Barcelona goal scored by substitute Antoine Griezmann.

Dortmund substitute Jadon Sancho pulled one back in the last 15 minutes of the game and the England international also hit the post as Barcelona held on for a 3-1 victory.

Lionel Messi was able to celebrate his landmark occasion in style as Barcelona book their place in the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Five-time European champions Barcelona and German Bundesliga side RB Leipzig are the latest teams to book their place in the next stage of the Champions League.

Both teams picked up the needed result on Matchday Five to confirm their spot in the last 16 (knockout stage) of the competition.

RB Leipzig are through to the Champions League knockout stage for the first time after they picked up the draw needed to qualify though it must be pointed out that they had to do it the hard way at home to Portuguese champions Benfica.

The Germans trailed to goals from Pizzi and Carlos Vinicius either side of the halftime interval and were heading for defeat until Swedish international Emil Forsberg scored two goals in added time to give his team a 2-2 draw against visitors Benfica.

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Emil scored from the penalty spot to halve the two-goal deficit at the start of added time before netting the equalizer six minutes into added time.

Barcelona are also through to the Champions League knockout stage following the 3-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund at the Nou Camp.

The Spanish champions made light work of the German Bundesliga team at home with club skipper Lionel Messi running the show on the occasion of his 700th Barcelona match as he scored one and assisted the other two goals for Luis Suarez and second-half substitute Antoine Griezmann.

The lineup for the Champions League knockout stage is beginning to take shape ahead of the final Matchday in the various groups.

Matchday Six games will conclude the Champions League group stage and they are scheduled to hold in the second week of December.

At the end of Matchday Five, eight teams have already confirmed their place in the knockout stage including Barcelona and RB Leipzig who are the latest club to join the league of the last 16 sides at the end of proceedings on Wednesday night.

RB Leipzig secured a 2-2 draw at home to Benfica FC of Portugal to seal their place as the German Bundesliga side came back from two goals down at the start of the second half.

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On their part, Barcelona needed a win and they got that with the 3-1 victory over visitors Borussia Dortmund.

Lionel Messi made his 700th appearance for his team during the game and he ended up with one goal and two assists.

He has now scored 613 goals in 700 Barcelona games.

At the end of the Matchday Five games on Tuesday night, the likes of Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City booked their various last 16 spots.

Bayern Munich, Juventus and Paris Saint Germain (PSG) were the first teams to seal qualification for the knockout stage in the Champions League this season as they did this at the end of Matchday Four.

One-time champion Chelsea have a toughlooking fixture in the Champions League this week as they target qualification for the knockout stage from Group H.

Cheslea suffered their only Champions League defeat this season against Spanish top flight side Valencia on Matchday 1 and the two teams will meet again at the Mestalla on Matchday Five.

The Blues were beaten 1-0 at home by Valencia with Rodrigo getting the only goal of the game.

Group H is one of the tightest groups in the Champions League this season with the top three teams (Ajax, Chelsea and Valencia) all on seven points apiece, while the last team Lille FC of France recorded just one point from the first four games in the Champions League.

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Chelsea were on a winning run of six successive league games before the Premier League match at the home of champions Manchester City on Saturday.

That winning run came to an end via the 2-1 loss to Premier League champions Manchester City despite the fact that they scored the opening goal of the league game.

Chelsea XI vs Valencia (4-3-3): Kepa Arrizabalaga; Cesar Azpilicueta, Fikayo Tomori, Kurt Zouma, Emerson Palmieri; Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount; Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic and Willian Borges.

Reigning European champions Liverpool can seal qualification for the knockout stage of the Champions League when they face Italian Serie A outfit Napoli in their Matchday Five Group E clash.

Liverpool have been able to recover from their Matchday One defeat to Napoli to lead the group ahead of their second meeting billed for Anfield on Wednesday night.

Napoli beat Liverpool 2-0 at home courtesy the goals from Dries Mertens (penalty) and second half substitute Fernando Llorente.

The Reds recovered from that defeat with three straight wins and the target is to make it four successive victories against their Italian opposition.

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Those three victories against Genk (two wins) and Red Bull Salzburg have taken Liverpool to the summit in Group E with nine points from four games ahead of Napoli in second place with eight points.

Liverpool will win the group with a game to spare with victory over Napoli, while a draw will be enough for last 16 qualification.

Star player Mohamed Salah started from the bench during the 2-1 away win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League at the weekend because of a small ankle problem and he’s expected to return to the starting XI against Napoli.

Liverpool XI vs Napoli (4-3-3): Alisson Becker; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dejan Lovren, Virgil Van Dijk, Andy Robertson; Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum; Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

Three teams have already booked their place in the knockout stage of the Champions League this season after the completion of Matchday Four matches.

The trio of Juventus, PSG and Bayern Munich are through to the round of 16 after the end of Matchday Four games.

The group stage has six matchdays and the 32 teams still has two games each to go before it’s completed.

Italian Serie A giants Juventus have a three-point advantage at the top of Group D after the late win over Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow.

The victory took Juventus to 10 points from four Champions League games and also sealed their place in the knockout stage.

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Aaron Ramsey and Aleksei Miranchuk scored for Juventus and Lokomotiv Moscow respectively in the first half which ended in a 1-1.

Douglas Costa came off the bench to scored the winning goal three minutes into added time.

In Group A, French champions PSG maintained their perfect record this season with a slim 1-0 win over Club Brugge FC of Belgium at home courtesy the first-half goal from Mauro Icardi.

PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas saved a penalty to preserve that lead which confirmed the last 16 spot.

German champions Bayern Munich are also through to the last 16 following the 2-0 home win over Greek club Olympiakos in Group B.

Former Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey has revealed why he stole the much talked about goal from Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo during the Champions League clash with Lokomotiv Moscow FC of Russia on Wednesday night.

Ronaldo’s long-range free-kick was spilled into the back of the net by Lokomotiv Moscow goalkeeper Guilherme and Aaron Ramsey ensured that the ball crossed over the line.

Aaron Ramsey was credited with that goal at the expense of former Manchester United attacker Cristiano Ronaldo.

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When asked about that goal shortly after the game in an interview monitored by Goal, Ramsey told reporters that he felt that the Lokomotiv Moscow goalkeeper Guilherme was close to the ball and that he had to make sure that it was over the line.

Ramsey went on to say that he has apologized to Cristiano Ronaldo on the goal which was scored after just three minutes of the game which Juventus won 2-1 at the home of Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow.

The hosts equalized in the 12th minute courtesy the goal from Aleksei Miranchuk before second-half substitute Douglas Costa secured the win for the Italian champions with three minutes of added time gone.

The late win took Juventus through to the knockout stage.

Juventus are through to the Champions League knockout stage following their late win at Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow but that victory was somewhat overshadowed by the controversy of the first goal of the game.

Cristiano Ronaldo hit a long free-kick which was spilled by Lokomotiv Moscow goalkeeper Guilherme before Aaron Ramsey tapped the ball into the net when it appears the ball was destined for the back of the net.

The former Manchester United attacker could have set a new Champions League record if the opening goal was not awarded to ex-Arsenal midfielder Ramsey.

Ronaldo would have set a new record of scoring against 34 different teams on the Champions League stage.

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The Portuguese national team captain is level with Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez and main rival Lionel Messi (33 teams).

Aaron Ramsey gave Juventus the lead after three minutes before the hosts scored the equalizer through Aleksei Miranchuk nine minutes later.

Lokomotiv Moscow thought they had gotten a draw against the Italian champions until second-half substitute Douglas Costa won the game for the visitors in added time.

The goal from Douglas Costa gave Juventus a 2-1 win to make it their victories and one draw from four games.

The win also confirmed their spot in the last 16.