Champions League: Atletico, Real Madrid complete Round of 16 roster

Spanish clubs, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, confirmed their places in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League following impressive results against Salzburg and Borussia Moenchengladbach, respectively, on Wednesday.

Both La Liga teams needed victory in their last group game to confirm their passage to the Round of 16 and that was what they did in Wednesday’s outing.

For Real Madrid, Karim Benzema was the hero as his two first half goals ensured that Zinedine Zidane’s team were saved the heartache of dropping into the less fancied Europa League.

In Austria, Diego Simeone’s men did well enough to register a 2-0 win over Salzburg.

Mario Hermoso got the curtain raiser in the 39th minute before Yannick Carrasco sealed the win with his 86th-minute strike.

Elsewhere, holders Bayern Munich ended the group stage by beating Lokomotiv Moscow to take their unbeaten run to 17 games in the competition.

Bayern won all 11 games on the way to lifting the trophy last term and have drawn just one group game this season.

In Italy, misfiring Inter and Shakhtar Donetsk missed out on the Champions League round of 16 following a goalless draw on a miserable Wednesday night at San Siro.

Romelu Lukaku huffed and puffed for the entire duration but he could not rescue the situation for Inter.

Also on Wednesday, Sergio Aguero was on target as Manchester City made it 16 points from a possible 18 in the Champions League group stages with a 3-0.

With the men now literally separated from the boys, the first legs of the last-16 ties are due to take place on February 16/17 and February 23/24 with the second legs on March 9/10 and March 16/17.

The quarter-finals are slated for April 6/7 and April 13/14 with the semi-finals on April 27/28 and May 4/5.

All roads lead to Istanbul for the Champions League final set to take place in Istanbul on May 29.