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While Lyon rallied to hold Leipzig 2-2 after a Memphis Depay strike, it was the English clubs who made a mark on the night. Liverpool and Chelsea moved into the last 16 with contrasting wins and now all four English clubs, including Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, are in the Champions League knockouts this season.
Here's all the action from Tuesday night's matches, in pictures.
Liverpool moved into the last 16 of the Champions League with a 2-0 victory over Salzburg on Tuesday as a potentially tricky encounter turned into a second-half cruise with quickfire goals from Naby Keita and Mohamed Salah.
Juergen Klopp's side needed a point in Austria to be sure of qualification and after missing several good chances in the first half, they ended up with a comfortable win which should have been by a more convincing margin.
Two goals inside two second-half minutes from Keita and Salah, with the Egyptian finding the net with an exquisite finish from a tight angle, helped Liverpool finish top of Group E with 13 points.
That was one point ahead of Napoli, who beat Genk 4-0, while Salzburg, who finished third with seven points, will continue in the Europa League.
"It was a tough game but we were there - that's what I love from my team. Salzburg did so many smart things, but we had the big chances. It was a very intense game. In the second half they obviously couldn't cope with that intensity," said Klopp.
Although the away defeat and home draw with Carlo Ancelotti's Napoli had left Liverpool on edge going into the final round of games, their superior quality showed in the end.
With much at stake for two attacking sides, the game began in a frantic and open fashion and Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker had to be alert in the seventh minute to keep out a close-range effort from South Korean Hwang Hee-chan after good work from the lively Japanese forward Takumi Minamino.
Mane missed a good opportunity, curling wide from the edge of the box and then brought Salzburg keeper Cican Stankovic into action with a diagonal drive.
Highly-rated Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, who has been linked with a move to Manchester United, failed to make the most of space inside the box and his low shot was easily dealt with by the Liverpool keeper.
The biggest chance of the half came in the 29th minute when Keita put in Salah, but unmarked and inside the box, the Egyptian's shot was badly off target.
The 19-year-old Haaland missed another opportunity, six minutes after the interval, but Liverpool were beginning to get a grip on midfield and dictate the tempo.
The runaway Premier League leaders settled their nerves when Keita headed them in front, against his former club, in the 57th minute.
Andy Robertson fed Mane who burst down the left past Jerome Onguene and he rounded Salzburg keeper Cican Stankovic, who had rushed out of his area, before lofting a cross into the box which was firmly headed home by Keita.
A minute later, Stankovic's readiness to leave his area was behind the second goal, as Salah, wide on the right, pushed the ball around him and then impressively slotted home from the tightest possible angle.
Liverpool were in firm control from then on and wasted several chances to add to their total with Salah and Mane both missing opportunities.
Salzburg will take some comfort from their enterprising first-half performance and their overall displays in the group stage, which earned praise from Klopp.
"I couldn't have more respect for what Salzburg are doing. When you see how good they were in the first game, against Napoli and against Genk. We could have come here as reigning champions and misunderstood the situation, but I love how smart we were against them," he said.
Chelsea hold on against Lille to advance in Champions League
Chelsea survived a nerve-jangling finale to their 2-1 win over Lille on Tuesday, eventually holding on to clinch a place in the Champions League knock-out stages thanks to first-half goals from Tammy Abraham and captain Cesar Azpilicueta.
Chelsea, who needed a victory to make sure of qualification, had gone five Champions League games at Stamford Bridge without a victory, their longest such run at home in the competition.
They dominated almost the entire game yet Lille, who were already condemned to the bottom spot of Group H and fielded an under-strength side, scored in the 78th minute and came close to a late equaliser that would have eliminated Chelsea.
Victory left Chelsea second in the group on 11 points behind Valencia, who won 1-0 at Ajax Amsterdam, consigning the Dutch champions to third place and elimination. Lille ended with just one point.
"It did get twitchy," Chelsea coach Frank Lampard said.
"We need to take our chances better. At 2-0, I thought it was not quite done and when Lille scored it made it a more nervy finish to the game than it needed to be."
After dominating the opening proceedings in a downpour and swirling wind, Chelsea went ahead in the 19th minute when U.S. striker Christian Pulisic darted forward to feed Willian and the Brazilian's cut-back cross was turned in by Abraham.
The Londoners doubled their lead in the 35th minute when Azpilicueta shook off his marker to score with a close-range header from a corner by Emerson.
But what had looked like being a comfortable night for the Blues proved anything but once former Chelsea striker Loic Remy pulled a goal back for Lille with his shot going in off the underside of the bar.
Remy then wasted a chance to equalise when he shot straight at Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga in injury time.
Lille coach Christophe Galtier said his team had struggled in the opening 30 minutes to cope with Chelsea and the heavy rain and wind that swept around Stamford Bridge.
"Chelsea seemed to play a bit less in the second half. We got more of the ball and we deserved to get our goal," he said. "It made the match more interesting than what went before it. We could have scored a second goal."
The result meant all four English teams in this season's Champions League -- Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as Chelsea -- have reached the last 16 of the competition.
There was further good news for Chelsea as they welcomed back central defender Antonio Rudiger who had previously played only 45 minutes this season due to injuries.
Dortmund advance to knockout stage with 2-1 win over Slavia
Borussia Dortmund beat Slavia Prague 2-1 on Tuesday with goals from Jadon Sancho and Julian Brandt to advance to the Champions League knockout stage, leaving Italian side Inter Milan in third place of Group F.
The win put the Germans, who also had keeper Roman Buerki to thank with more than half a dozen sensational saves, on 10 points in second place, three ahead of Inter who lost 2-1 to already-qualified group winners Barcelona.
Sancho put the hosts ahead in the 10th and Dortmund could have added at least two more when Marco Reus twice had only keeper Ondrej Kolar to beat but was denied on both occasions.
With the Germans having to better Inter's result against Barca to advance, the Czechs gradually found space and forced keeper Buerki to three outstanding saves, including an off-balance one-handed one, in the first half.
But he was well beaten when Tomas Soucek completed a lightning-quick attack in the 43rd to level.
The Germans recovered after the break and Brandt thumped in their second goal from a tight angle in the 61st to somewhat settle their nerves.
But they again needed Buerki's fine form to deny the Czechs another equaliser as the visitors' pressure mounted following the dismissal of Dortmund's Julian Weigl with a second booking in the 77th.
Depay strikes late to send Lyon through to last 16
Olympique Lyonnais fought back from 2-0 down to snatch a 2-2 draw against RB Leipzig thanks to a late Memphis Depay goal that sent the French club through to the Champions League's last 16 on Tuesday.
Dutch striker Depay found the back of the net eight minutes from fulltime after Hassem Aouar's superb second-half goal had reduced the deficit with Lyon having conceded two first-half penalties in a catastrophic start at the Groupama Stadium.
Leipzig topped the group with 11 points while Lyon finished second on eight points.
Benfica, who finished with seven points, will play in the Europa League knockout phase after finishing ahead of Zenit St Petersburg thanks to a better head-to-head record following a 3-0 home win against the Russian side.
Lyon got off to a woeful start as Leipzig were awarded a penalty following a VAR review after keeper Anthony Lopes had tripped Yussuf Poulsen.
Emil Forsberg converted the spot kick in the ninth minute and Timo Werner doubled the advantage with another penalty in the 33rd after Lucas Tousart had brought down Christopher Nkunku.
Aouar pulled one back five minutes into the second half with an exquisite curling shot into the far top corner.
In a tense finale, Depay ghosted past a defender to score the equaliser from close range with a low angled shot.
Zenit eliminated after 3-0 defeat at Benfica
Zenit St Petersburg missed out on a place in the Champions League last-16 when they lost 3-0 away to Benfica in their final Group G match on Tuesday and finished bottom of the table.
Despite being outplayed, 10-man Zenit were minutes away from finishing in second place until Olympique Lyonnais scored an 82nd minute goal to snatch a 2-2 draw at home to already-qualified RB Leizpig to go through instead.
Olympique finished with eight points while Benfica and Zenit ended level on seven with the Portuguese side taking third place and a spot in the Europa League knockout stages thanks to their superior head-to-head record against the Russians.
Neither side made much headway in the first half but Benfica went ahead two minutes after the break when a neat passing exchange created space for Pizzi on the left and the Benfica captain sent in a low cross which Franco Cervi turned in.
Nine minutes later, Zenit's Douglas Santos was given a second yellow card for handling in the penalty area Pizzi converted the penalty for Benfica.
Zenit finally mustered their first shot on target in the 77th minute when Sardar Azmoun hooked the ball towards goal but his bouncing effort was tipped over by Odisseas Vlachodimos.
Two minutes later, a Benfica corner was floated over from the left and Azmoun, under no real pressure at the near post, turned the ball into the roof of the net from a narrow angle.
At that point, Zenit were still second in the group, ahead of Olympique and Benfica on their head-to-head record, but the French side's late goal completed a miserable evening for them.
