BARCELONA: Another day to celebrate for Lionel Messi. An­ot­her frustrating day for Liverpool against a familiar opponent.

Messi marked his 700th game for Barcelona with a goal and two assists in a 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund 3-1 that sent his team into the knockout rounds of the Champions League on Wednesday.

Defending champions Liver­pool couldn’t replicate that feat as they struggled once again against Napoli. This time, Dejan Lovren’s header rescued a 1-1 draw for Liverpool, who must try again to qualify against Red Bull Salzburg on Dec. 10.

Chelsea will also have to wait for qualification after drawing 2-2 with Valencia on a freak goal, while RB Leipzig qualified for the first time after a dramatic comeback.

Earlier, Lautaro Martinez sco­red twice as Inter Milan beat Slavia Prague 3-1. Inter can still qualify from Group ‘F’, but Slavia are out.

It’s not like Barcelona to grind out results, and beating Dort­mund brought back some welcome swagger.

Messi got the ball rolling with a neat pass which allowed Luis Suarez to open the scoring in the 29th minute, before the Uruguayan returned the favour four minutes later to lay on Messi for his 613th Barca goal.

Messi, who has scored 10 times in his last nine games, was also at the heart of the goal which extinguished Dortmund’s hopes of a result in the 67th minute, slipping a wonderful through ball for Griezmann that the Frenchman could happily stroke first time past Roman Burki.

“He (Messi) was incredible,” said Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde. “It’s all about what he does and when he does it. It was a performance to put us through.”

Dortmund slip down to third behind Antonio Conte’s Inter side, who roared to a fine win which keeps alive their hopes of a place in the next round.

Romelu Lukaku’s first Champions League goal for Inter and a Lautaro Martinez double saw off a spirited Slavia side that had levelled in the 37th minute through a VAR-awarded Tomas Soucek penalty after Lukaku thought he had doubled his side’s lead.“We’ve given meaning to the match with Barca by winning tonight,” said Conte.

“We are expecting a tough, great match, but we know that we can count on 80,000 people who will come to the stadium to push us on.”

At Anfield, Napoli stopped Liverpool sealing a spot in the knockout stages, but couldn’t quite snatch a third win in their last four games against the Champions League holders.

Dries Mertens scored from a long pass in the 21st before Lovren’s header from a corner leveled the game for Liverpool. There was a blow for the Reds as defensive midfielder Fabinho was forced off injured.

“We couldn’t put it to bed tonight but it’s the Champions League, it’s difficult, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson said. It’s always difficult, there are some really good teams so we have to stay positive.”

In the other Group ‘E’ game, Erling Haaland became the first teenager to score in five consecutive Champions League games as Salzburg beat Genk 4-1. The 19-year-old Norwegian came off the bench to get one assist and score Salzburg’s fourth.

Chelsea could have gone through with a win but now must wait until their final group game against Lille.

Salzburg can still qualify if they beat Liverpool in the final game, while Napoli need a draw with bottom side Genk to claim their spot.

Ajax also need a point to go through thanks to a 2-0 win at Lille that featured the fastest goal of this year’s competition to open a two-point lead at the top of Group ‘H’.

Hakim Ziyech netted after 94 seconds at eliminated Lille with Quincy Promes hitting his fourth of the tournament on the hour mark.

Four-time European champions Ajax have 10 points from five games, two more than Valencia and Chelsea who fought out a hugely entertaining 2-2 draw in Spain earlier in the day.

Valencia missed a series of chances including a penalty before Daniel Wass scored a freak goal from a cross in the 82nd to snatch a point for Valencia.

“We created a lot, both teams, I don’t know how many goals there could have been in that game, Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said.

RB Leipzig made the knockout stages in dramatic style after Emil Forsberg fired them back from two goals down in the final minute to draw 2-2 with Benfica.

The Germans needed a point to qualify but looked down and out as the match dragged towards added time, but Forsberg pulled a goal back from the penalty spot in the 90th minute before hitting the leveller six minutes later, sparking wild celebrations.The draw gave Olympique Lyonnais a big let-off after they failed to snatch a knockout spot when they fell to 2-0 defeat at Zenit St Petersburg.

Rudi Garcia’s team looked in peril of not qualifying at all from Group ‘G’ after the loss but Leipzig’s last gasp efforts mean they will go through with a win over the Bundesliga side on December 10.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2019