Central Plains FFA Chapter

01/28 16:41 CST Real Madrid dropped by Mourinho's Benfica into Champions League playoffs round alongside PSG Real Madrid dropped by Mourinho's Benfica into Champions League playoffs round alongside PSG By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer Real Madrid was stunningly dumped into the qualifying playoffs of the Champions League by its former coach Jos Mourinho --- whose Benfica team advanced on a last-gasp goal by its goalkeeper --- on Wednesday and will be joined there by title holder Paris Saint-Germain. Madrid started play third in the 36-team standings and despite two goals by Kylian Mbapp lost 4-2 at Benfica and fell to ninth --- one place below advancing direct to the round of 16. Astonishingly, Benfica only advanced to the knockout phase in 24th place on goal difference because Ukrainian goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored in the eighth minute of stoppage time with a dramatic header when Madrid was down to nine players. Red cards were shown minutes earlier for Raul Asencio and Rodrygo. Madrid fell out of the top-eight places when Sporting Lisbon got a stoppage-time goal in a 3-2 win at Athletic Bilbao. Sporting surprisingly joined Liverpool --- which beat Qarabag 6-0 --- Tottenham, Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester City in sealing top-eight finishes. Table-topping Arsenal, which completed a perfect eight-win program beating Kairat Almaty 3-2, and second-place Bayern Munich had already advanced to the round of 16 that starts in March.

PSG falls PSG and Newcastle both started in the top eight but drew 1-1 in Paris which sent both falling in the standings to 11th and 12th. Madrid, PSG, Newcastle and last year's beaten finalist Inter Milan all will be in the qualifying playoffs draw Friday for teams that placed ninth through 24th. Still, PSG went through the playoffs round a year ago in taking the longest path possible with two extra games in February toward its first European title.

Bodo/Glimt advances Norwegian debutant Bodo/Glimt will be a popular addition to the knockout phase, claiming 23rd place by winning 2-1 at Atletico Madrid. That showed how crucial it was to beat Man City last week inside its Arctic Circle home. Benfica's late drama eliminated Marseille, which lost 3-0 at Club Brugge and dropped below the cutoff into 25th place with nine points. Also in the playoffs are Qarabag, Brugge, Galatasaray and Olympiakos, plus Juventus and Atalanta from Italy. Italian champion Napoli was ousted in 30th place after losing 3-2 at home to Chelsea. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer