Bayern Munich top scorer Harry Kane struck twice in three minutes to carry his team to a 2-0 victory over Belgium's Union Saint-Gilloise and book their ticket for the knockout stage with a game to spare.
Kane headed in at the near post from a Michael Olise corner in the 52nd and added another goal from a 55th-minute penalty after he was brought down. The England captain could have sealed his hat-trick in the 80th minute but hammered his second penalty on to the crossbar.
The hosts were down to ten men from the 64th minute after defender Kim Min-jae was sent off with a second booking.
Vincent Kompany's side are second in the table on 18 points from their seven games.
Barcelona are outside the top eight on goal difference, despite a hard-fought 4-2 win at Slavia Prague, and would currently go into the play-off round.
The Spanish champions conceded an early goal and were pegged back to 2-2 in the Czech capital.
Fermin Lopez scored both their goals in the first half and Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski were on target after the break. Lewandowski found his own net for one of the home side's goals.
Khephren Thuram and Weston McKennie scored in the space of nine second-half minutes to hand Juventus a 2-0 home victory over Jose Mourinho's Benfica.
The Portuguese side must beat Real Madrid at home to have any chance of making the play-off round.
Galatasaray earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw against visitors Atletico Madrid as Marcos Llorente's own goal cancelled out Giuliano Simeone's early header.
The result leaves Atletico eighth in the standings with 13 points, keeping them in contention for a top-eight finish and direct qualification to the round of 16.
Galatasaray, currently 16th on 10 points, remain in the hunt for a knockout play-off spot.
Atletico took the lead after four minutes with Simeone powering home a close-range header from a counter attack, but Galatasaray equalised in the 21st minute when Llorente inadvertently turned a cross by Roland Sallai into his own net.
Athletic Bilbao produced a stunning 3-2 win at Atalanta with second-half goals from Gorka Guruzeta, Nico Serrano and Robert Navarro.
Behlul Mustafazade scored a stoppage-time winner as Qarabag beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2.
The Azerbaijani champions remain in the mix for a play-off place, with their final game being at Liverpool.
Mohamed Salah's Liverpool return after Africa Cup of Nations duty was overshadowed by Dominik Szoboszlai in a 3-0 victory in Marseille.
Liverpool took a huge step towards a top-eight finish after the outstanding Szoboszlai fired home a free-kick under the Marseille wall.
A deserved victory was sealed in the second half through a Jeremie Frimpong cross that deflected in off goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli and Cody Gakpo's added-time strike.
Newcastle secured a last 16 play-off spot by beating PSV Eindhoven 3-0 at St James' Park.
Yoane Wissa - pictured above - put them ahead before setting up Anthony Gordon, the winger's sixth Champions League goal matching Alan Shearer's total from the 2002-03 season.
Harvey Barnes wrapped matters up after the break with a clinical third.
Chelsea beat Cypriot minnows Pafos 1-0 to keep their hopes alive of finishing in the top eight.
Liam Rosenior was in charge of his first Champions League match - and his fourth at Chelsea - but had to wait 78 minutes for Moises Caicedo's diving header to break the deadlock.
Chelsea probably need to beat Napoli away on the final day to avoid two play-off matches in the 36-team league phase.
