Man City clinch Champions League last-16 spot with win over Galatasaray

MANCHESTER, England, Jan 28 : Manchester City's Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki struck before halftime to secure a Champions League place in the last 16 for their side in a 2-0 victory over Galatasaray on Wednesday.

Pep Guardiola's side claimed eighth spot with 16 points in the eight-game league phase to just avoid the two-legged playoffs and advance directly to the last 16 for a precious slice of breathing room in a packed fixture schedule.

Galatasaray ended 20th on 10 points and go into the playoffs.

Haaland headed an early chance wide but made up for it in the 11th minute when Jeremy Doku delivered a perfect ball to put him one-on-one with Ugurcan Cakir. The Norwegian chipped the ball over the keeper for his first open-play goal in 10 games.

Doku also provided the assist for Cherki's goal when he drew two defenders before laying the ball back for the Frenchman, who took a touch before slotting it home in the 29th minute.

Doku went off with a calf injury soon afterwards to a standing ovation.

City were coming off a shock 3-1 defeat at Bodo/Glimt last week that left them 11th and needing a win to have a chance of claiming a top-eight spot.

"We are happy, just very happy because we wanted to qualify in the top eight. With a bit of drama, we did it," Bernardo Silva said. "Overall very happy because we avoid two games. With the schedule it's really important to do that. We need also to recover some players to arrive in the last months of the season."

Haaland's goal was his seventh in eight Champions League games and his 56th in 56 appearances in Europe's elite club competition. He is now joint-eighth on the all-time scorers list alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy, who netted 56 times in 73 games.

Haaland missed a late chance which would