Robert Lewandowski‘s late goals on Wednesday saved Barcelona twice from an embarrassing Champions League elimination.
Barcelona and Inter Milan played to a 3-3 draw at Camp Nou in an instant classic, with Barcelona holding onto a small chance of moving on to the round of 16.
Atlético Madrid is also in danger after going three games without scoring.
No worries for unheralded Club Brugge and Bayern Munich, who each advanced to the knockout stage with two rounds remaining as group leaders while Spanish powers are floundering in third.
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Free-scoring With a 4-2 victory over Ajax, Napoli advanced as well, kicking off an incredible Champions League night that included 36 goals across eight games.
Midway through the second half of Liverpool’s 7-1 rout of Rangers, Mohamed Salah came on as a substitute and immediately created a competition record by scoring three goals in six minutes and twelve seconds.
After a spectacular final few minutes against Inter, Barcelona, a five-time European champion, was thankful to be alive even though it may have only been a stay of execution.
In the 82nd minute, Barcelona was behind 2-1 and on the verge of losing when Lewandowski’s effort was deflected into the Inter goal.
When Robin Gosens concluded a quick break, the Italians took the lead once more in the 89th minute. However, two minutes into stoppage time, Lewandowski rose once more to head another equaliser.
There was still time for Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen to make two more saves, Inter coach Simone Inzaghi to receive a red card, and Inter to blow opportunities to win.
However, Inter now has the advantage in head-to-head comparisons over Barcelona and, if they can defeat overmatched Viktoria Plze in two weeks, they will advance from Group C along with Bayern.
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At Plze, Bayern led by four goals after just 35 minutes, but its flawless defensive record was compromised in the second half of a 4-2 victory.
In a 0-0 draw at Atlético, Brugge goalkeeper Simon Mignolet extended his streak of clean sheets to four games, moving his team four points ahead of Porto and six points ahead of Atlético with the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Iran striker Mehdi Taremi scored two penalties in Porto’s 3-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen.
After defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2, Tottenham takes the group D lead for the first time thanks to goals from Son Heung-min on either side of a Harry Kane penalty. A late penalty was also missed by Kane.
Sporting Lisbon, which concluded the game with nine men after receiving two red cards, was defeated 2-0 by Marseille, moving Marseille up to second place.
In the 17 years Lionel Messi was a member of the team, Barcelona never failed to advance to the knockout phase of the Champions League.
Without him, a pair of losses with one remaining in two weeks’ time beckon.
If Barcelona loses to Lewandowski’s old team Bayern at home on October 26, it will be eliminated. If Inter wins either of its final two games, even a victory will not be sufficient.
