Champions League Groups 2015: Top Scorers, Qualified Teams After Wednesday Games
Olivier Giroud stole the show with a hat-trick in Arsenal's 3-0 win over Olympiakos on Wednesday, but Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo will finish the group stages of the 2015-16 UEFA Champions League as the top scorer.
Giroud almost single-handedly guided the Gunners past Olympiakos, scoring once in the first half and twice in the second. Meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski added to his tally with a brace in Bayern Munich's 2-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb, and Chelsea's Willian continued his fine Champions League form with a strike against FC Porto.
Chelsea, Arsenal, AS Roma, Dynamo Kyiv and AA Gent became the last five teams to book their ticket to the knockout stages, while Bayern, Barcelona and Zenit St Petersburg had already qualified. Here are the full results from Wednesday's action, courtesy of the Champions League's official Twitter account:
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A full list of qualified teams:
The final group standings:
| 1 | Barcelona | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 14 |
| 2 | Roma | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | -5 | 6 |
| 3 | Leverkusen | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 4 | BATE Borisov | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -7 | 4 |
| 1 | Bayern Munich | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 15 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | Olympiakos | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | -7 | 9 |
| 4 | Dinamo Zagreb | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | -11 | 3 |
| 1 | Chelsea | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 13 |
| 2 | Dynamo Kiev | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| 3 | Porto | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| 4 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -15 | 0 |
| 1 | Zenit St Petersburg | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 15 |
| 2 | KAA Gent | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| 3 | Valencia | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | -4 | 6 |
| 4 | Lyon | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -4 | 4 |
The Champions League's top scorers:
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | 11 |
| 2 | Robert Lewandowski | Bayern Munich | 7 |
| 3 | Artem Dzyuba | Zenit | 6 |
| 4 | Olivier Giroud | Arsenal | 5 |
| 4 | Willian | Chelsea | 5 |
| 4 | Javier Hernandez | Bayer Leverkusen | 5 |
| 4 | Thomas Muller | Bayern Munich | 5 |
| 4 | Luis Suarez | Barcelona | 5 |
| 9 | Admir Mehmedi | Bayer Leverkusen | 4 |
| 9 | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | 4 |
Recap
Lewandowski's brace against Dinamo means he will finish the group stages with a total of seven goals, an excellent return and good enough for second place in the rankings. On Tuesday, Ronaldo became the first-ever player to score 11 goals in the group stages, per UEFA Euro 2016.
Bayern Munich had already qualified for the next round, but that didn't stop Lewandowski from giving it his all, as evidenced by his first goal. The Poland international beat his marker and produced a diving header to open the score, and he doubled his tally minutes later with a clever lob.
As shared by Squawka Football, Lewandowski has been a consistent force in the Champions League:
Thomas Muller had a chance to increase his tally as well, but he blasted a penalty against the post.
Arsenal came into their clash with Olympiakos knowing they needed to beat the Greeks by a score other than 1-0 or 2-1, and Giroud stepped up in a big way, scoring a hat-trick to guide his team to the next round.
He headed the ball past Roberto in the first half after some lovely work from Aaron Ramsey and added a second early in the second half, sliding the ball underneath the stopper. A handball handed the Gunners a penalty and Giroud his third on a platter, and the France international didn't miss.
After the match, manager Arsene Wenger was understandably pleased with his performance:
Group H was the only group in which none of the teams had yet booked their ticket to the next round entering the final matchday, and on Wednesday, Chelsea and Dynamo Kyiv both took care of business, beating FC Porto and Maccabi Tel Aviv, respectively.
The Blues took the lead thanks to a bizarre own goal from Ivan Marcano, who was in the wrong place when goalkeeper Iker Casillas parried Diego Costa's hard drive straight into his path.
Willian has been Chelsea's top performer in the Champions League by some distance, and it was hardly a surprise he doubled the Blues' lead in the second half with a superb strike from just inside the box.
Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe was impressed:
Zenit St Petersburg's Artem Dzyuba also continued his fine form with a goal early in the second half against Belgian minnows AA Gent, but the hosts reclaimed the lead through Danijel Milicevic, winning 2-1 and knocking head coach Gary Neville's Valencia out of the competition in the process.
Valencia lost 2-0 at home against Olympique Lyonnais, where Alexandre Lacazette found his way onto the scoresheet, and the Spaniards will be playing in the Europa League in 2016.
