UEFA Champions League: Valverde steal the show and Leipzig march into round of 16 in group F wrap

Real Madrid secure the top spot, while the German side record their 4th group win in row.

Real Madrid have finished their group stage campaign with style, as they thrashed Celtic with 5-1 in the last round of group F in UEFA Champions League.
It was an easy victory for the home side as they secured the top spot of the group with a total of 13 points, while Celtic are out of the European competitions this season as they finished the group at the bottom.

Madrid scored through Modrić (6′), Rodrygo (21′), Asensio (51′), Vinícius Júnior (61′) and Valverde 71′, and the team were awarded two penalties (the first and the second goal), while the visitors scored their only goal by Jota (84′), and they had an early chance to reduce the deficit when they were awarded a penalty (35′), converted by Josip Juranovic, but Courtois guesses the right way and managed to deny the opposition from scoring.

Thibaut Courtois has saved 5 of the last 10 penalties he has faced for Real Madrid in all competitions (excluding penalty shootouts), including the last two in the Champions League, having saved just one of his first 18 penalties for Los Blancos.

Federico Valverde has been named Player of the Match. Real Madrid midfielder scored a goal and assisted a goal. Valverde has been in a fantastic form this season as he is currently involved directly in 13 goals in his last 19 appearances for Real Madrid (8 goals, 5 assists), as many goal involvements as he managed in his previous 147 games for the club.

He has scored five goals from outside the box this season in all competitions, more than any other player from the Europe’s big five leagues (Lionel Messi and Daichi Kamada, four)

In the other match in the group, RB Leipzig managed to book their last-16 place in some style, as they beat Shakhtar Donetsk by four goals to nil.

The German side scored through Nkunku (10′), André Silva (50′), Szoboszlai (62′) and Bondar (68′, og) to secure their 4th victory in row in the group.

Christopher Nkunku has now scored 8 goals in his last 9 games, as he has been named Player of the Match.

Shakhtar finished the group in the 3rd place, and they will switch to the Europa League.