MANCHESTER – Premier League teams are powering ahead in the Champions League with five of England's top flight clubs in position to advance to the round of 16.
Arsenal tops the standings and has already secured its place in the next round, while wins for Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea on Wednesday saw them move into the top eight automatic qualifying positions with one game of the league phase to go. Tottenham is fifth, with Manchester City the only English team in the playoffs going into next week's matches.
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Bayern Munich is second and joined Arsenal in advancing to the round of 16 with Harry Kane scoring twice in a 2-0 win over Union Saint-Gilloise.
Barcelona is in ninth place despite a 4-2 win at Slavia Prague and risks having to to go through the playoffs to advance.
But there is much to play for in the final round of the league phase with just three points separating third place Real Madrid and Juventus in 15th.
Liverpool is fourth after a 3-0 win at Marseille. Newcastle beat PSV Eindhoven by the same score and Chelsea won 1-0 against Pafos.
Qarabag wins again
Tiny Qarabag is making a big impression in the competition and picked up its third win in the league phase after Bahlul Mustafazade scored deep into stoppage time on to beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2.
The Azerbaijani team edged closer to securing a place in the playoffs with just one game remaining thanks to its late comeback, which also confirmed Frankfurt's elimination.
Camilo Duran had put the home team ahead in the fourth minute, but Frankfurt responded through Can Uzun and Fares Chaibi. Duran leveled the game in the 80th before Mustafazade's winner in the 94th.
A Marcos Llorente own goal denied Atletico Madrid victory as the Spanish team drew 1-1 at Galatasaray. Giuliano Simeone scored early for Atletico before Llorente's own goal in the 20th.
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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer