Lionel Messi was up to his usual tricks, even if he fell just short of equalling his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo's record, while Arsenal finally managed to end up winning a group in this stage of the Champions League. Needing a win and some help from elsewhere, everything fell into place for the Gunners on Tuesday.
While the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez all started, the man of the moment for the Premier League side was Lucas Perez, who picked up his first Arsenal hat-trick in a 4-1 win over FC Basel.
A win alone would not have sufficed, but Arsenal got that help they needed from Ludogorets, who held PSG to a 2-2 draw, and it was only a draw thanks to a late goal from Angel Di Maria, to give the English side top spot in Group A.
While winning the group does not guarantee an easier draw – Bayern Munich and possibly Real Madrid await – it will feel good for Arsenal to finally avoid finishing second-best.
Barcelona thumped Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0, with Messi opening the scoring. The Barcelona superstar netted his tenth goal of the group stages for this campaign, which is one goal shy of Cristiano Ronaldo's mark for this phase, set last season, when he scored 11. Arda Turan helped himself to a hat-trick and that meant Barcelona, who had Neymar suspended and Luis Suarez rested, equalled the team record for most goals in the group stages, with 20.
Manchester City, who were had already confirmed second place in the group, were held to a 1-1 draw, after their player Patrick Roberts, on loan at Celtic, scored for the Scottish champions. Kelechi Iheanacho equalised, with both goals coming inside the first ten minutes.
Benfica and Napoli both qualified to the last 16 from Group B, despite the Portuguese club falling to a 2-1 defeat at home. Napoli got their win through strikes from Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens, but Benfica also joined them in the knockout stages after Besiktas, who were just a point behind the two teams going into this game, extraordinarily went down 6-0 to Dynamo Kyiv, a team that had only picked up two points in five matches before this final group encounter.
In a dead rubber, Robert Lewandowski's 28th minute strike decided the Bayern Munich vs Atletico Madrid match, and while that result ended the Spanish club's hopes of finishing the group stages with a perfect record, it changed little else, with the La Liga side going through as group winners, ahead of Bayern.
FC Rostov held PSV Eindhoven to a goalless draw to finish third and take the Europa League spot.
Results: Group A: Basel 1-4 Arsenal; PSG 2-2 Ludogorets Razgrad.
Group B: Benfica 1-2 Napoli; Dynamo Kyiv 6-0 Besiktas.
Group C: Manchester City 1-1 Celtic; Barcelona 4-0 Borussia Monchengladbach.
Group D: Bayern Munich 1-0 Atletico Madrid; PSV Eindhoven 0-0 FC Rostov.
