LISBON, Portugal -- Napoli won 2-1 at Benfica but both teams qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League on Tuesday after Besiktas fell to a surprise 6-0 thrashing at Dynamo Kiev.Dries Mertens, who scored two goals in a 4-2 win against Benfica in Italy, changed the Group B match after coming on as a substitute. The Belgium international set up the opener for Jose Callejon on the hour mark before securing the win in the 79th as Napoli topped its Champions League group for the first time.We had already been burned once by looking at the result of the other match, said Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri, whose team had squandered earlier chances to qualify for the last 16. So, it really hardly mattered to us what was happening in Kiev. We wanted first place to make Napoli history.But I think that there is really very little advantage to finishing first. It was more for our own satisfaction, because we are convinced that we are the team that has played the best in this group.It was meant to be a battle to advance at Estadio da Luz but it turned out to be a shootout for top spot as Besiktas collapsed in Ukraine.Both Benfica and Napoli had missed several earlier opportunities to advance, with the Italian side nearly becoming the first team in Champions League history to advance from the group stage after only three matches -- before losing to Besiktas and drawing its next two games.Both teams had eight points coming into the match, one more than Besiktas, and Napoli knew a draw would be enough, having already defeated Benfica.It was an end-to-end start to the match but there were few clear chances and the tempo started to fall as the news filtered through that Besiktas was losing.Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina had been the busier of the two shot-stoppers in the first half but Napoli appeared more determined after the break. Callejon should have broken the deadlock four minutes into the second half but fired wide from a great position.Mertens was brought on in the 57th and had an immediate impact, with a lovely through ball to Callejon who dinked it over the onrushing Ederson.Mertens got on the scoresheet himself in the 79th, carving out space just inside the area, following a one-two between Callejon and Faouzi Ghoulam, and curling into the bottom left corner.Napoli gifted Benfica a consolation goal three minutes from time when Raul Albiol was caught napping. He should have easily cleared a long ball but Raul Jimenez seized the moment and fired past Reina. Kyler Fackrell Super Bowl Jersey . The 26-year-old Ireland striker, who has four goals this season, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract with his new club. Jimmy Graham Super Bowl Jersey . Following a lopsided 5-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, Paul MacLean told reporters that "theres a lack of focus, theres a lack of leadership and theres a lack of preparation" with his struggling team. That came on the heels of Bryan Murray taking the unusual step of going into the locker room at the Prudential Center and addressing the players himself. http://www.packersonlineteamstore.com/dave-robinson-youth-jersey.html . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. ZaDarius Smith Super Bowl Jersey . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. Corey Linsley Super Bowl Jersey .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled forward Kevin Porter and defenceman Chad Ruhwedel from the minors as part of a five-player roster shuffle made by the NHLs worst team. PITTSBURGH -- Matt Murray stood tall for the Pittsburgh Penguins during a key second-period sequence in which the short-handed Toronto Maple Leafs tried to make a push.Murray turned aside the threat and the Penguins took over from there, putting away a tired Maple Leafs team in the final 20 minutes.Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust scored in the third period to help Pittsburgh pull away for a 4-1 victory over Toronto on Saturday night.I think sometimes you give up opportunities and we kind of dodged one with some of the chances they got, Crosby said. Those were some big saves and we were able to get those go-ahead goals after that.Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz also scored and Murray stopped a career-high 35 shots as Pittsburgh won for the seventh time in nine games.Zach Hyman scored for the Maple Leafs and Frederik Andersen had 45 saves in his second start in two nights. Toronto has won just once in its last eight on the road.I thought our fatigue showed a bit in the third period, Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. Our goalie was good and we gave up two, what I think, are bad goals that are D-zone coverage.Murray kept the game tied at 1 late in the second period, denying Connor Brown and Matt Martin on a pair of point-blank, short-handed opportunities, in addition to a stop on another odd-man rush.My job is to make the save at the right time, to bail them out when they need it, and they came out hot in the third, said Murray, who has won his last 11 regular-season starts. We were pretty much unstoppable in the third.Kunitz put the Penguins ahead with 18 seconds left in the period when he flipped the puck over a sprawled Andersen.To get that goal late in the second definitely gave us a big boost, Crosby said.Rust made it 3-1 at 6:58 of the third period when he took a feed from Crosby at the faceoff dot and put a shot on Andersen. He got his own rebound and darted to the net, sweeping a shot past Andersens outstretched pad.Crosby extended the lead a little more than three minutes later, tapping in a twice-redirected shot from the top of the crease for his 10th of the season. Crosby, who missed the Penguins first six games with a concussion, has 10 goals and 133 points in his last nine.ddddddddddddThe Penguins, who rebounded from their first regulation loss on home ice Thursday against Minnesota, extended their unbeaten stretch against Toronto to nine games, including seven in Pittsburgh.Everyone has been there with back-to-back games, Crosby said. Going into the third, its not easy, but I thought we did a good job of keeping our foot on the gas and applying pressure.Hyman got Toronto on the scoreboard first less than two minutes into the game with a between-the-legs deflection over Murrays shoulder from the right post. It was Hymans second goal of the season and second in two nights.Malkin scored his eighth on the power play to tie it at 3:06 of the second. Kris Letangs initial shot from between the circles ricocheted off the end boards behind the net and Malkin was near the post to tap it in.Malkin has points in nine of his last 11 games, including four straight overall and six consecutive at home. Patric Hornqvist, who had an assist on the goal, has points in 11 of 15 games this season.This was the first meeting between Crosby and Maple Leafs rookie forward Auston Matthews. Crosby faced Matthews, the No. 1 overall pick in 2016, four days after his first game against Edmonton star Connor McDavid, the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.Matthews, who had six goals and four assists in his first six games, hasnt scored since Oct. 25, and has just three assists in his last nine games. He was shut out again on Saturday with one shot in nearly 17 minutes of ice timeGame notes Leafs D Matt Hunwick played for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury Oct. 25. ... Penguins F Tom Kuhnhackl was in the lineup for the first time in six games. ... The Penguins wore their Pittsburgh Gold white road jerseys on home ice for the first time since Game 2 of the 1992 Stanley Cup Final against Chicago.UP NEXTToronto: Hosts Nashville on Tuesday night in the opener of a stretch of three of four at home.Pittsburgh: At Washington on Wednesday night to start a stretch of five of six on the road. ' ' '
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