Match reports
That’s it from me. What an evening. Thanks for reading and for your emails. Here is Jonathan Liew’s match report on Borussia Dortmund 1-1 PSG …
… and here is Louise Taylor’s match report on Newcastle 1-2 Milan.
Cheers!
Here are the teams that finished third in their Champions League groups, and will drop into the Europa League:
Galatasaray
Lens
Braga
Benfica
Feyenoord
Milan
Young Boys
Shakhtar
Here are the teams that are out of Europe entirely after finishing fourth.
Manchester United
Sevilla
Union Berlin
RB Salzburg
Celtic
Newcastle
Red Star Belgrade
Royal Antwerp
Here are all the teams that qualified for the last 16.
Group winners:
Bayern
Arsenal
Real Madrid
Real Sociedad
Atlético Madrid
Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City
Barcelona
Group runners-up:
FC Copenhagen
PSV
Napoli
Internazionale
Lazio
PSG
RB Leipzig
Porto
Here are all the results from the final round of group games! Antwerp beating Barcelona! Celtic’s first Champions League home win in 10 years. Porto through at the expense of Shakhtar! It had a bit of everything.
Paris and Porto through ✅
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 13, 2023
What a night 😳#UCL pic.twitter.com/lNGuoZSVkv
In the Women’s Champions League, Lyon have beaten Brann 3-1. Sarah is posting the highlights here via Dazn, so fill ya boots.
Full-time in the group’s other game: Newcastle 1-2 Milan.
I obviously haven’t watched that game, but having taken the lead, it will be so disappointing for Newcastle fans that their European journey ends here, particularly as they were so close to beating PSG in the last round of matches. That penalty decision against Livramento was so, so crucial.
Full-time: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 PSG
That’s it! Dortmund top the group! PSG finish second. Milan finish third and will go to the Europa League. Newcastle are out of Europe completely. What a brilliant, breathless evening.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Borussia Dortmund | 6 | 3 | 11 |
| 2 | PSG | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | AC Milan | 6 | -3 | 8 |
| 4 | Newcastle | 6 | -1 | 5 |
Updated
90+4 min: PSG playing for time now. They earn a corner, but end up taking it short and back in their own half. But they have the ball, and Dortmund can’t score.
Soler comes on for Muani as PSG continue to run down the clock. A rather anticlimactic last couple of minutes to what has been an enthralling match.
Updated
90+3 min: Huge chance for Reus! Reyna skins Ugarte in midfield, splits the PSG defence with a beautiful slide rule pass but Reus, almost alone in the box, can’t control a relatively simple pass! Hakimi nips in to clear. Reus would have had a free shot at goal, from around the penalty spot, had he controlled that easy ball.
90+2 min: Interesting that Hakimi was making a gesture to the rest of the PSG players (and Dortmund players?!) to 'calm down’. This draw suits both teams here, Dortmund top the group, and PSG qualify at the expense of Milan.
90 min: Six minutes of injury time! And here come Dortmund, Süle surging forward to win a corner. But there’s a foul as the cross comes in, and PSG are able to clear.
88 min: Another goal in Newcastle … for Milan! The Italian side lead 2-1, thanks to Chukwueze, who also scored against Dortmund. That means Newcastle are heading out Europe completely! PSG remains second, level on points with Milan, because they have a better head-to-head record. Milan will go into the Europa League, as things stand.
But if Dortmund score to win 2-1, Milan will qualify instead of PSG!
This is the live table.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Borussia Dortmund | 6 | 3 | 11 |
| 2 | PSG | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | AC Milan | 6 | -3 | 8 |
| 4 | Newcastle | 6 | -1 | 5 |
86 min: A reminder that this is how it stands in Group F. If Newcastle get a late goal against Milan, they will leapfrog PSG into second place. PSG need a winner to be sure of qualification.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Borussia Dortmund | 6 | 3 | 11 |
| 2 | PSG | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | Newcastle | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | AC Milan | 6 | -4 | 6 |
83 min: Since those changes, Dortmund have tightened it up a bit. A collective sigh of relief blows around the stadium. But PSG are pushing for a winner.
80 min: A few more changes. Reyna and Haller come on for Füllkrug and the goalscorer Adeyemi.
And I should mention a couple of substitutions I missed, for PSG. Lee came off for for Ugarte and for Asensio for Barcola.
Updated
78 min: PSG are running amok. What on earth are Dortmund doing. Hakimi, who played for Dortmund 2018-2020 of course, is being given the freedom of Signal Iduna Park. PSG are at their most dangerous when counter-attacking and Dortmund seem to be playing right into Luis Enrique’s hands here. This is loose and open game – great to watch – but surely not the kind that Terzic will want. Dortmund still want to top the group, remember.
GOAL DISALLOWED! PSG and Mbappé have a goal ruled out for offside!
76 min: This is soooooo close to being onside. Hakimi found some room on the right, clipped a great ball in behind to Mbappé, who latched on, took his touch and fired beyond Kobel. But replays show that Mbappé’s knee was just beyond the last defender when he made his run. Millimetres.
A PSG win, of course, would end any Newcastle hopes of reaching the last 16.
Updated
74 min: Dortmund seem happy enough at this stage to protect the draw. A dangerous tactic.
72 min: Mbappé finds some space in the box. A little feint right with a lollipop, and he flashes his shot a yard wide of the goal. Kobel was well beaten! Remarkable that this game is just 1-1.
70 min: Dortmund make two changes: Schlotterbeck on for Wolf, who has waned since his rampaging first half. Sabitzer on for Özcan, who has picked up some sort of knock.
No changes for PSG so far, which is interesting.
Updated
68 min: Great defending from Bensebaini at the back post for Dortmund! Mbappé again is the creator – he’s so much better from the left wing than as a No 9 – as he curls a great cross towards Muani, but Dortmund’s Algerian defender strains his neck and just diverts the ball away from Muani. Offside is given, but I think replays show that all of PSG’s players were onside. So the goal would have stood, but for Bensebaini’s intervention.
67 min: “Zaïre-Emery is absurdly good, and seems to be everywhere on the pitch,” emails Kári Tulinius. “If someone told me he was two players named Zaïre and Emery who’d PSG had tricked everyone into treating as just one guy, I’d at least have to consider the possibility.”
The boy is special. You don’t get into PSG and France’s midfield at the age of 17 without being a baller. Is worth flagging that he’s been at the club since 2014, so a genuine youth product, not someone who has been bought/nicked from somewhere else at the age of 15.
65 min: What a game. What a group.
63 min: There’s been a goal in Newcastle, for Milan! It’s Pulisic that has got it, and that goal has completely altered the group.
This is the live table, with both games at 1-1.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Borussia Dortmund | 6 | 3 | 11 |
| 2 | PSG | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | Newcastle | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 4 | AC Milan | 6 | -4 | 6 |
62 min: Malen nearly catches Donnarumma out at his near post! Great save from the Italian because Malen took the shot early. Another keeper could easily have been beaten there.
60 min: Dortmund make a change. Bynoe-Gittens – the English teenager who moved to Dortmund from Manchester City in 2020 – comes off for Malen.
58 min: PSG have got their tails up now. They can smell blood. Hakimi and Zaïre-Emery pour forward on the right wing and it’s a pretty terrible challenge from Hummels who brings the latter down. Yellow for Hummels, who left his mark on Zaïre-Emery’s ankle. That’s the injury that kept Zaïre-Emery out for a month. But it looks as though the 17-year-old is able to continue.
GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 1-1 PSG (Zaïre-Emery 56)
PSG hit straight back. Mbappé, loitering on the left wing, bursts past his marker – who on earth can live with him in full flight?! – and cuts the ball back from the byline. It’s is deflected away but comes quickly to Zaïre-Emery, who takes a beautiful first touch on the run, and slams his shot past Kobel from 18 yards out. It might have taken a slight deflection, through a crowd of bodies, but there’s no denying that it was a brilliant strike. PSG back in it, they need a winner to be sure of finishing second in this group.
Updated
54 min: We said that PSG profligacy would cost them. And it has. Absolutely massive news for Newcastle, who still lead Milan 1-0. This is the live table.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Borussia Dortmund | 6 | 4 | 13 |
| 2 | Newcastle | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | PSG | 6 | 0 | 7 |
| 4 | AC Milan | 6 | -5 | 5 |
But if Milan score to make it 1-1, PSG will rise again to second place!
GOAL! Borussia Dortmund 1-0 PSG (Adeyemi 52)
Dortmund get the breakthrough! Finally somebody finishes their dinner! Hakimi is robbed of possession wide on the right, Bensebaini wins the ball from Marquinhos, and it breaks to Fullkrug, who turns neatly on the byline. Skriniar is twisted up, and powerless to prevent the big German striker from laying a simply pass back to Adeyemi, who can sweep the ball into the net from six yards out. In off the post!
Updated
51 min: The second half has started at the same pace as the first. Ferociously.
49 min: Great block from Hummels! Mbappé finds some space on the left, floats a lovely pass to Hakimi, who arrives untracked into the Dortmund box, but Hummels throws himself in front of the shot. The ball comes to Lee on the edge of the box, but the PSG man can only fire straight at Kobel.
46 min: Brandt pings one from 25 yards – a shot that swirls and dips in the air – but Donnarumma watches it well and parries it away. It was a nice height for the Italian but my word, Brandt got hold of that.
Peeeeeep! We’re off again. Forty-five minutes for PSG to save their season, because as we all know, the Ligue 1 title doesn’t count.
Half-time reading.
Half-time Borussia Dortmund 0-0 PSG
Somehow, we have had no goals. This could easily be Dortmund 2-4 PSG at the break. With that Newcastle goal against Milan, PSG are currently heading to the Europa League. Dortmund will top the group, if things stay the same.
45 min: From the resulting free-kick, PSG again push up for offside but Hummels breaks the trap at the back post and heads just wide. Oooooooohhhh, what a chance for a veteran!
44 min: The lull doesn’t last long! Mbappé releases Muani, who is clean through on goal, but Kobel spreads himself well and blocks the shot with his leg! Muani is having a stinker!
Dortmund immediately counter attack and Marquinhos is booked for bringing down Bynoe-Gittens after the Englishman had got clear of Hakimi.
42 min: One goal here changes everything. After a rip-roaring opening 40 minutes, we have something of a lull here.
39 min: PSG playing a dangerous game in defending set-piece free-kicks. They are pushing up aggressively, which leaves the Dortmund attackers with a free run at the cross. So far it’s working, Fullkrug is the latest to be caught offside, but surely Dortmund’s players will get wise to it soon.
37 min: Now, then. PSG must either score here, or hope that Milan can equalise if they are to avoid Europa League football. What a disaster that would be for Luis Enrique. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t fired on the spot, such is the culture at PSG.
34 min: Huge news from Newcastle! They have taken the lead against Milan! Joelinton with the goal to make it 1-0!
That means that, as things stand, it is Newcastle that will finish second, on account of their head-to-head record (versus PSG) being better. Here’s the live table.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Borussia Dortmund | 6 | 3 | 11 |
| 2 | Newcastle | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | PSG | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| 4 | AC Milan | 6 | -5 | 5 |
32 min: Dortmund so close to scoring! They have two penalty shouts (neither were worth a VAR check) before Ozcan drives a long range boomer from downtown, around 30 yards out. Donnarumma can only parry the ball and Adeyemi can’t convert the rebound! It was an open goal but it came to the diminutive German quickly.
Updated
30 min: This should be about 3-0 to PSG. How many times have we seen the French side blow it in the Champions League. They are not ruthless enough. It may well come back to bite them.
28 min: An email from Joe Pearson.
“Sort of a neutral, but I would love to see Dortmund win here, and one of the other teams win, so that PSG would be forced to play in the Europa League. Can you imagine how disinterested they would be? That would be delightful!”
I’m sure Joe is not the only person out there who would like the same outcome.
25 min: Signs of life for Dortmund, as Reus brings a sharp save out of Donnarumma! Some untidy defending sees the ball ping around the PSG box, and Reus takes charge, controlling the ball on his chest and firing at goal. Straight at the Italian goalkeeper, who tips it over. Anywhere else, and that surely would have been our opener.
24 min: What a game this is, by the way.
22 min: HOW ARE PSG NOT AHEAD?! Adeyemi gives a sloppy pass away in midfield and PSG pounce. Mbappé wins his duel and slips a through ball to Muani. Initially it looks like the €95m forward is going to check back and wait for support, but instead he zooms past the ageing Hummels. One-on-one with the keeper, Muani opts to use his stronger right foot, poking the ball a few inches wide of the post. Dortmund’s goal is living a charmed life.
20 min: The home crowd are trying to give their team a lift, but Dortmund’s players look a little shellshocked. They have had a rough seven or eight minutes.
18 min: Barcola hits the post! Dortmund are hanging on here a little! PSG break with Mbappé, who pokes the ball through to Barcola on the left wing. The 21-year-old cuts inside and curls a real banana shot against Dortmund’s far post!
17 min: Mbappé goes clean through! The World Cup winner rounds Kobel and rolls the ball into an empty ne … no! Süle sprints back and with the goal gaping, somehow hooks the ball over his own bar! What a clearance! Especially as Mbappé’s finish was bouncing, so made the clearance even more challenging. PSG have really stepped it up.
16 min: Huge miss from Lee! The South Korean has missed an open goal from six yards out with his weaker right foot! Wow, an unbelievable howler, and all the PSG players have their heads in the hands. Goal kick to Dortmund. It looks as though Muani would have been offside in the build up, but Lee didn’t know that when he skewed his shot wide.
Updated
13 min: Big chance for Dortmund and Wolf, who seems to be operating at right-back, right-wing back and even centre forward. He’s causing PSG all sorts of problems, the French side are all at sea defensively. Wolf exchanges a neat one-two with Reus and it’s only a magnificent covering tackle from Hernandez that stops Wolf converting from 12 yards. It should be a corner, but the referee whistles for a goal kick!
12 min: Vitinha tries his luck from range. It’s a fiercer effort than Reus’, but Kobel does well to palm it away.
10 min: Reus brings a save out of Donnarumma! The German’s shot was a bobbly awkward one, and the PSG keeper turns it behind. Certainly a better save than the one that allowed Alexander Isak to score from a rebound in PSG’s last match against Newcastle.
8 min: Wolf has the freedom of the right wing and gets to PSG’s byline (again) without being tracked. But a heavy touch allows Hernandez to scramble back and he makes a good recovering tackle, in fairness.
6 min: Now PSG are on the front foot. They work the ball meticulously into Dortmund’s box but Barcola takes an extra touch and can’t get his shot away. Dortmund clear. The PSG winger was guilty of overplaying.
4 min: Free-kick out wide for Dortmund, and Brandt drifts a delightful ball into the ‘corridor of uncertainty’ in PSG’s box, but no player makes contact. Terzic will be fuming that one of his attackers didn’t gamble there.
2 min: This game is so open! PSG pour forward and Dortmund hit the French side on the counter attack! Wolf strides forward on the right wing completely unopposed, zings a low ball across PSG’s box and it’s only a nifty interception from Marquinhos that stops Reus from having a free shot from eight yards out!
Peeeeeep! We’re off in Germany.
The teams are out. Dortmund in their famous yellow and black. PSG in their changed strip of white with a blue and red trim. Here we go!
Gregor Kobel, Dortmund’s vice-captain, will take the armband tonight in Can’s absence. The 26-year-old has quickly developed into one of the continent’s finest keepers, but has flown slightly under the radar, partly because Yann Sommer is the No 1 for Switzerland.
A couple of really big individual matchups to flag.
Dortmund’s Marius Wolf was a doubt for this game after missing the weekend defeat to RB Leipzig. But he’s back and straight back into the XI at right back where he will be up against … Mbappé. Wolf being fit means that Niklas Süle can start in his natural position at centre back.
Another key player is Warren Zaïre-Emery, the 17-year-old wonderkid, who makes his first start for PSG in over a month after picking up an injury on his full international debut. He scored of course, but was clattered in the process. Interestingly the man who would normally be marking him in central midfield, Dortmund’s captain Emre Can, is suspended after picking up three yellow cards in the group stage.
Of course, there is Women’s Champions League action as well tonight. Sarah Rendell is helming our MBM liveblog on Lyon v Brann.
Dortmund manager Edin Terzic has been talking to TNT Sports:
Especially at home we need to make our fans happy. We don’t feel relief [at qualifying early]. This is hard work. We want to win the game, we want to top the group. This is really important to us. In our last game we beat the semi-finalists [Milan']. This is what we are capable of.
Paris has been trying to win the Champions League for many years now. There will be over 80,000 people in here. We can show what we can do.
This is a nice preview from Eric Devin on PSG. Well worth a read before kick-off.
It’s remarkable to see Dortmund where they are in the standings, especially as they started this group with a limp 2-0 defeat at PSG and a disappointing 0-0 draw at homet to Milan. But three consecutive wins means they have qualified from the so-called ‘Group of Death’ with a game to spare!
I referenced this in my preamble, but that’s in stark contrast to their form in Germany. They have lost four of their last six games in league and cup, and won only once. Who knows which Dortmund we will get tonight?
Both Dortmund and PSG have their destinies in their own hands tonight, but PSG’s fate could yet be decided by what happens/doesn’t happen in the other game in this group. You can follow along with Scott Murray here.
The teams!
Borussia Dortmund: Kobel, Wolf, Sule, Hummels, Bensebaini, Brandt, Ozcan, Reus, Bynoe-Gittens, Fullkrug, Adeyemi.
Subs: Schlotterbeck, Reyna, Haller, Sabitzer, Malen, Meyer, Laurenz Lotka, Blank, Bueno.
PSG: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Skriniar, Marquinhos, Hernandez, Lee, Zaire Emery, Vitinha, Barcola, Muani, Kylian Mbappe.
Subs: Ugarte, Asensio, Danilo Pereira, Mukiele, Carlos Soler, Letellier, Tenas.
Preamble
Welcome to the best Champions League group of this year’s competition. Group F, aka this season’s Group of Death, with Borussia Dortmund, PSG, Newcastle and Milan. Four (fairly) evenly matched clubs, who all have something to play for. All four teams can qualify for the last 16, and only Dortmund are guaranteed qualification, currently with 10 points at the top of the group. What a job Edin Terzic has done in Europe, although their Bundesliga form has not been as
We are set for a racuous atmosphere at both the Signal Iduna Park and St James’ Park. This could quite easily be the last time we see Kylian Mbappé in a PSG shirt in the Champions League, the Paris side have lost both their away games and generally don’t travel too well. Dortmund will be keen to top the group and ensure they have a better draw in the last-16. There are so many storylines, each entwined with each other.
Here is how things stand before tonight’s final group game.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Borussia Dortmund | 5 | 3 | 10 |
| 2 | PSG | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 3 | Newcastle | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 4 | AC Milan | 5 | -4 | 5 |
Here are tonight’s fixtures and permutations.
Dortmund v PSG
Newcastle v Milan
Dortmund will progress as group winners if they avoid defeat to PSG.
PSG will win the group if they beat Dortmund. Should PSG draw with Dortmund, and Newcastle beat Milan, Newcastle will qualify for the knockout stage in second place behind Dortmund, owing to their superior head-to-head record over PSG.
If Newcastle v Milan ends in a draw, neither team will qualify for the Champions League last-16, but Newcastle will finish third and drop into the Europa League draw. Milan will be out of Europe altogether in that scenario.
Milan can still qualify for the Champions League last 16, but must beat Newcastle and hope Dortmund beat PSG.
Got it? Good. I think that covers everything, although I am beginning to confuse myself now. A good job that the team news will be along shortly.
The chaaaaaammmmpppppions.
Kick-off: 8pm GMT or 9pm in Germany.
