Champions League round-up: Napoli and Benfica through as Arsenal pinch top spot from Paris Saint-Germain

Napoli and Benfica clinch places in the last 16 as nine-man Besiktas capitulate at Dynamo Kiev, while Arsenal snatched first place away from Paris Saint-Germain in group A

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Napoli players celebrate their victory after the Uefa Champions League against Benfica at Luz stadium in Lisbon. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 11:24am, 7 Dec 2016Updated: 11:24am, 7 Dec 2016

Napoli and Benfica clinched places in the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday as nine-man Besiktas capitulated at Dynamo Kiev, while Arsenal snatched first place away from Paris Saint-Germain in group A.

Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens scored second-half goals to earn Napoli a 2-1 victory over Benfica in Lisbon to send the Italians through to the knockout phase as winners of group B.

Twice former European champions Benfica pulled a goal back late on through Raul Jimenez and qualified as runners-up.

“We reached our objective, we wanted to win the group and we did it with a splendid performance here in Lisbon,” said Callejon.

Benfica’s Raul Jimenez challenges with Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly. Photo: Xinhua

In the group’s other game, Besiktas travelled to Ukraine hopeful of advancing after their rousing three-goal fightback on matchday five against Benfica, but the Turkish champions unravelled in a disastrous first half.

Artem Besedin bundled in Dynamo’s opener on nine minutes at the Olympic Stadium and Besiktas suffered a critical blow on the half hour with Andreas Beck sent off for a professional foul on Derlis Gonzalez.