Liverpool and Barcelona booked their spots in the last 16 of the Champions League with victories in their penultimate games against 10-man Lille and Benfica respectively.

Arne Slot’s men maintained their 100% record and are top of the 36-team table with 21 points, three points clear of second-placed Barcelona with one game of the league phase remaining. Lille are 11th with 13 points.

Salah netted his 50th European goal for Liverpool in the 34th minute when he sprinted onto a long pass from Curtis Jones after Kostas Tsimikas won the ball inside the Reds’ half, and then curled a shot around goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier.

“Special is, I think, the word that describes Mo’s performance at this club,” Slot said. “Or maybe there are even better words to use, but he’s been outstanding for this club for so many years, and still he does. Today, great goal.”

Despite being reduced to 10 men when Aissa Mandi was shown his second yellow card in the 59th minute for his tackle on Luis Diaz, Jonathan David levelled for the visitors three minutes later when he hammered home the loose ball after Hakon Arnar Haraldsson’s shot was blocked.

The strike was David’s fifth in the competition’s league phase this season and only the second goal Liverpool had conceded, with the first coming in their opening game at AC Milan.

Liverpool quickly regained the lead when a corner was headed out to the edge of the box and Elliott fired a crisp shot that took a wild deflection into the net in the 67th minute.

“Very good team,” David said of Liverpool. “I think they might be the best team in the world at the moment.

“We came against the first of the Champions League group so we knew it was going to be a complicated game even more so when we went to 10 men,” he added. “It’s frustrating, we wanted to hold on as long as we could but it’s very difficult.”

Darwin Nunez celebrated what he thought was Liverpool’s third goal just before added time, but it was chalked off for offside. The Anfield crowd chanted Nunez’s name in appreciation of the effort.

Lille showed why they were unbeaten in 21 successive games in all competitions inside the opening minute on Tuesday when Gabriel Gudmundsson’s thunderous shot from outside of the box sailed just wide of the net.

Salah squandered several terrific chances. He could not quite connect with Diaz’s blistering square ball in the first half, and then had only the keeper to beat in the 44th minute but shot wide of the post.

Liverpool travel to PSV Eindhoven for their final match of the league phase on Jan. 29, while Lille host Feyenoord.

Barcelona’s Raphinha scored deep into stoppage time to hand his side a dramatic 5-4 comeback win at Benfica and a place in the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday after a hat-trick from Vangelis Pavlidis gave the hosts a two-goal halftime lead.

The Catalans had mirrored their poor recent LaLiga form in a shaky start at the Estadio da Luz, while coach Hansi Flick’s decision to field goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny raised questions as the Pole’s blunders led to two Benfica goals.

But Flick’s men fought back late in the game to clinch their spot in the next round as they sit second on 18 points after seven games heading into next week’s final first phase fixtures.

Benfica missed out on a win that would have taken them closer to the top eight, who qualify automatically for the last 16, dropping to 18th with 10 points among the playoff spots.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game. I know how difficult it is to play here against Benfica. They have players of the highest level,” former Sporting forward Raphinha told Movistar.

“We didn’t let ourselves get carried away when we were 3-1 down. It was a spectacular match for the spectators. Anyone could have won.”

Greek striker Pavlidis opened the scoring after two minutes with a tap-in before Robert Lewandowski equalised from the spot as VAR awarded Barca a penalty for a Tomas Araujo foul on Alejandro Balde in the 11th minute.

Pavlidis restored Benfica’s lead, capitalising on a poor run out by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who left the forward with an open goal. The 26-year-old bagged his third with a penalty after Szczesny fouled Kerem Akturkoglu on the half-hour mark.

A blunder by Benfica keeper Anatoliy Trubin also proved costly as he cleared the ball straight onto Raphinha’s head and into the net for a bizarre goal as the visitors pulled one back in the 64th minute to make it 3-2.

Barcelona’s defensive misfortune continued however and Benfica extended their lead again four minutes later thanks to an own goal from Ronald Araujo before Lewandowski scored his second with another clinical penalty in the 78th.

Substitute Eric Garcia then equalised with a towering header from a fine Pedri cross three minutes from time before Raphinha found the winner six minutes into stoppage time from a quick counter-attack that stunned the home crowd.

“It was an incredible victory. The team didn’t lose their heads throughout the game,” defender Garcia said. “When you start the game losing, it messes your plans.

“It’s important to qualify for the next round, we came with this objective in mind.”

Barca host Atalanta in their final first phase game next Wednesday when Benfica will look to bounce back at Juventus.

Tuesday’s results

Atalanta (1) 5 Sturm Graz (0) 0
Monaco (1) 1 Aston Villa (0) 0
Atlético Madrid (0) 2 Bayer Leverkusen (1) 1
Benfica (3) 4 Barcelona (1) 5
Bologna (0) 2 Borussia Dortmund (1) 1
Club Brugge (0) 0 Juventus (0) 0
Crvena zvezda (0) 2 PSV (3) 3
Liverpool (1) 2 Lille (0) 1
Slovan Bratislava (0) 1 Stuttgart (2) 3

Wednesday, January 22 fixtures (EET)

RB Leipzig v Sporting CP (1945)
Shakhtar Donetsk v Brest (1945)
Celtic v Young Boys (2200)
Feyenoord v Bayern München (2200)
Milan v Girona (2200)
PSG v Manchester City (2200)
Sparta Praha v Internazionale (2200)
Arsenal v Dinamo Zagreb (2200)
Real Madrid v Salzburg (2200)

Champions League standings

Games played/Wins/Draws/Defeats/Goals F/Goals A/Pts

1 Liverpool 7 7 0 0 15 2 21
2 Barcelona 7 6 0 1 26 11 18
3 Atlético 7 5 0 2 16 11 15
4 Atalanta 7 4 2 1 18 4 14
5 Arsenal 6 4 1 1 11 2 13
6 Leverkusen 7 4 1 2 13 7 13
7 Inter 6 4 1 1 7 1 13
8 Aston Villa 7 4 1 2 9 4 13

The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the round of 16

9 Brest 6 4 1 1 10 6 13
10 Monaco 7 4 1 2 13 10 13
11 Lille 7 4 1 2 11 9 13
12 Bayern München 6 4 0 2 17 8 12
13 Dortmund 7 4 0 3 19 11 12
14 Juventus 7 3 3 1 9 5 12
15 Milan 6 4 0 2 12 9 12
16 PSV 7 3 2 2 13 10 11
17 Club Brugge 7 3 2 2 6 8 11
18 Benfica 7 3 1 3 14 12 10
19 Sporting 6 3 1 2 11 9 10
20 Feyenoord 6 3 1 2 14 15 10
21 Stuttgart 7 3 1 3 12 13 10
22 Real Madrid 6 3 0 3 12 11 9
23 Celtic 6 2 3 1 10 10 9
24 Man City 6 2 2 2 13 9 8

Teams finishing in 9th to 24th place will compete in a two-legged knock-out phase play-off

25 Dinamo Zagreb 6 2 2 2 10 15 8
26 PSG 6 2 1 3 6 6 7
27 Bologna 7 1 2 4 3 8 5
28 Shakhtar D 6 1 1 4 5 13 4
29 Sparta 6 1 1 4 7 18 4
30 Girona 6 1 0 5 4 10 3
31 Crvena zvezda 7 1 0 6 12 22 3
32 Sturm 7 1 0 6 4 14 3
33 Salzburg 6 1 0 5 3 18 3
34 Leipzig 6 0 0 6 6 13 0
35 Slovan 7 0 0 7 6 24 0
36 Young Boys 6 0 0 6 3 22 0

Teams that finish 25th or lower will be eliminated