Group A: Malmo 0 PSG 5
Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic crowned a triumphant homecoming with a second-half goal as Paris St Germain crushed Malmo to book a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
With the 34-year-old Ibrahimovic captaining PSG for the night, Adrien Rabiot netted the first goal after three minutes by heading home Gregory van der Wiel’s pinpoint cross.
Angel Di Maria doubled the advantage when he coolly slotted the ball past Johan Wiland 11 minutes later after Blaise Matuidi had played a searching ball across Malmo’s penalty area.
Ibrahimovic struck five minutes into the second half, surging in from the left before planting the ball beyond Wiland and celebrating modestly with his team mates.
Malmo had a chance to reduce the deficit when Maxwell felled Nicolai Djurdjic but Markus Rosenberg thumped the resulting penalty against the post.
Di Maria netted his second goal midway through the second half with a simple header before being replaced by Lucas who also found the target with an unstoppable free kick in the 82nd minute.
A few minutes later Ibrahimovic left the field to a standing ovation from all sides of the ground.
Shakhtar Donetsk 3 Real Madrid 4
Real Madrid, who had already sealed a place in the last 16, ensured top spot in Group A with a remarkable 4-3 win over Shakhtar Donetsk.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored after 18 and 70 minutes while Luka Modric (50) and Dani Carvajal (52) also struck to put the 10-times European champions in complete command on a freezing night in western Ukraine.
The temperature then soared quickly, on the field at least, as Shakhtar netted three times in the closing stages.
Brazilian midfielder Alex Teixeira converted a penalty after 77 minutes before Dentinho chested the ball into the net from a corner.
Teixeira was again on target with two minutes remaining as the hosts gave Real a huge fright.
PSG are sure to finish second because they have an inferior head to head record against Real.
Group B: CSKA Moscow 0 Vfl Wolfsburg 2
Wolfsburg earlier surged to the top of group as substitute Andre Schürrle’s heroics saw them win 2-0 at the Arena Khimki.
CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev made a terrible blunder, somehow parrying the former Chelsea player’s shot from an acute angle over his own line in the 67th minute, before the winger finished the job with Wolfsburg‘s second two minutes from time.
It was the first away win by any team in the tightly fought group and put the German side on nine points.
Wolfsburg’s victory was a triumph for patience and quality on the counter-attack but CSKA will look back on a crucial miss from Serbian Zoran Tosic who hit the post with a clear-cut opportunity just minutes before Schürrle struck.
Group C: Atletico Madrid 2 Galatasaray 0
Atletico Madrid eased through to the round of 16 with a game to spare and eliminated Galatasaray when Antoine Griezmann’s double secured a 2-0 win at home to the Turkish side.
Atletico, the 2014 runners-up, needed only a draw to progress and their comfortable victory at the Calderon stadium put them level on 10 points at the top of the group with Benfica and ahead of the Portuguese club on goal difference.
Benfica, who host Atletico in the sixth and final round of games next month when top spot will be up for grabs, fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Kazakh side Astana earlier on Wednesday.
Galatasaray have four points in third place, with Astana on three in fourth.
Atletico are appearing in Europe’s elite club competition for the third season in a row for the first time and turned in another solid display in the Spanish capital.
Griezmann, who got both goals in September’s 2-0 win at Galatasaray on matchday one, put Diego Simeone’s side ahead in the 13th minute when he was left unmarked and headed a Gabi cross firmly past goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.
Gabi was again the provider for the France forward’s second in the 65th minute, a tap in from close range that snuffed out any hopes of a Galatasaray comeback.
Astana 2 Benfica 2
Benfica also reached the knockout stage after a Raul Jimenez double salvaged a draw for the Portuguese side in Astana.
Astana forward Patrick Twumasi failed to convert a chance when he was set up by midfielder Foxi Kethevoama near the Benfica goal early on but put the home side in front with a header after 19 minutes from an assist by fellow striker Junior Kabananga.
Astana doubled their advantage in the 31st when centre back Marin Anicic knocked the ball into the net off his back to score his first goal for the club, who are unbeaten at home in the group.
Benfica forward Jimenez got his side back in the game when he found a hole in the Kazakh defence 10 minutes before halftime to score with a header from a cross by Jonas Goncalves Oliveira.
He grabbed the equaliser in the 72nd from another Jonas assist with the ball going in off the inside of the far post.
Group D: Borussia Moenchengladbach 4 Sevilla 2
Already-eliminated Borussia Moenchengladbach crushed Sevilla 4-2 with two goals from Lars Stindl for their first ever victory in the competition that killed off the Spaniards’ hopes of reaching the knockout stage.
Stindl tapped in after 29 minutes and scored again after second half goals from Fabian Johnson and Raffael, to lift Gladbach to five points in the group and on track for a third place finish that leads to the Europa League, with their last group match against Manchester City next month.
Sevilla, who scored through Vitolo in the 82nd minute with Ever Banega adding a stoppage-time penalty and have now lost their last four group games since beating the Germans in their opener, are in bottom place on three and face Juventus next.
