Liverpool, Inter Milan ease into last 16 as Barcelona exit with a whimper

PARIS: Liverpool booked their place in the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday as Jurgen Klopp’s men saw off Ajax 3-0, while Inter Milan also qualified to eliminate Barcelona who slipped to a tame defeat by Bayern Munich.

Much of the drama came elsewhere on a breathless night of action, as Porto became the 12th team to secure a berth in the knockout stage but Tottenham were forced to wait.

Last season’s losing finalists Liverpool knew a draw in Amsterdam would be enough to clinch a last-16 spot for a sixth straight season.

The Reds, struggling in the Premier League this term, weathered an early Ajax storm before Mohamed Salah gave them a halftime lead.

Darwin Nunez, who had earlier missed an open goal from six yards out, headed in to double the advantage shortly after the break and Harvey Elliott rounded off the scoring with his second goal in as many Champions League games.

“Darwin was really angry with himself at halftime,” Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson told BT Sport.

“I sat next to him at half-time and told him I would put a cross in to his head for him to score.”

Liverpool join Napoli in progressing from Group A, but need a four-goal victory at Anfield in six days’ time to pip the red-hot Italians to top spot after their 3-0 win over Rangers.

Inter Milan romped to the win they needed to go through and eliminate Barca from Group C, thrashing Czechs Viktoria Plzen 4-0 at the San Siro.

Romelu Lukaku came off the bench to score on his return from injury late on, after Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s opener and a double for Edin Dzeko.

That left the financially struggling Catalans digesting a group-stage exit for the second straight season.

The five-time champions were unable to at least lay down a marker on their