Champions League things you missed last night: Ansu Fati and Jadon Sancho shine as Ajax crash out

Here are the Champions League stories you need to know this morning

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Liverpool and Chelsea both qualified for the Champions League last-16 on another exciting night of European action.

Meanwhile Napoli breezed past Belgium side Genk – only to sack their manager Carlo Ancelotti hours after.

And their Ligue 1 rivals Inter Milan had a similarly turbulent night, losing to Barcelona to crash out of the Champions League.

Elsewhere, there were crucial victories for Dortmund and Benfica, while last year’s semi-finalists Ajax lost to Valencia and dropped into the Europa League.

Here are five things you may have missed on a busy night of action.

Fati makes Champions League history

Teenager Ansu Fati became the youngest goalscorer in Champions League history as Barcelona knocked Inter Milan out with a 2-1 win at the San Siro.

Lautaro Martinez had two goals ruled out for offside as Antonio Conte’s men – who needed to match Borussia Dortmund’s result against Slavia Prague – were condemned to third spot in the group and the Europa League.

Sancho the star of the show

Jadon Sancho scored one goal and set up another as 10-man Borussia Dortmund beat Slavia Prague 2-1 on Tuesday to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages.

Dortmund went into the game knowing it would have to get a better result against Slavia than its Group F rivals Inter Milan could manage against already qualified Barcelona.

Both games were 1-1 at halftime, giving Inter the initiative, but Julian Brandt scored Dortmund’s second goal, and Barcelona ground out a 2-1 win over Inter.

Dortmund’s win was far from convincing and its goalkeeper Roman Burki had to make repeated saves because of poor positioning in defense.

Sancho was the star of the show (Getty)

A defence-splitting pass from Julian Brandt led to Sancho scoring Dortmund’s first goal. Passing from deep, Brandt found Marco Reus, who squared the ball for Sancho to tap in.

And, in the 61st it was Sancho’s turn to set up Brandt, sending a ball down the left for his teammaet to run on to and beat Slavia goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar at his near post. Burki kept Dortmund’s Champions League hopes alive with another big save in the 73rd before Slavia sent another good chance just wide at a corner.

Lampard calls out the big boys

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard is looking forward to the possible challenge of drawing a European giant in the last 16.

“I don’t mind the idea of having a bigger team,” the Blues boss said. “I’m just delighted that we got through in a tough group.

“We should just be happy and whoever comes we will give it our lot.”

But Lampard did accept his side need to work to kill off games after Loic Remy’s late goal for Lille put the game back in the balance.

“At 2-0 I felt we weren’t done and it made for a nervy 10 mins when it didn’t need to be,” he added.

“Today was a strong sign of what we have to do. It should have been a game that was finished a lot earlier.”

Zenit come undone at the death

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.

Ajax crash out

Rodrigo scored the game’s only goal as Valencia upset hosts Ajax Amsterdam 1-0 on Tuesday to finish top of Champions League Group H and eliminate the Dutch club from this season’s competition.

The 24th minute strike from the Brazil-born Spanish international saw Valencia finish ahead of Chelsea, 2-1 victors over Lille, by virtue of the head-to-head result between the two, as both clubs ended on 11 points to Ajax’s 10.

Ajax have crashed out (Getty)

The Dutch giants, who were the fairytale story of last season’s competition with their giant-slaying run from the early preliminary rounds to the semi-final, needed only to draw their last group game to advance to the last-16.

Yet they looked flat and listless in going down to the Spanish side, who ended with 10 men after the sending off of Gabriel Paulista in stoppage time, and now drop down to the Europa League after finishing third.

Rodrigo buried the ball into the top right-hand corner after being teed up by a clever dummy from Ferran Torres, who first feinted to shoot before passing.

Results

• Salzburg 0-2 Liverpool
• Napoli 4-0 Genk
• Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Slavia Prague
• Inter Milan 1-2 Barcelona
• Benfica 3-0 Zenit
• Lyon 2-2 RB Leipzig
• Ajax 0-1 Valencia
• Chelsea 2-1 Lille