Mandzukic's hattrick fires Atletico into CL's knockout stage post 4-0 Olympiakos win

Spanish champions Atletico Madrid secured their place in the Champions League knockout stage with a 4-0 thrashing of Olympiakos on Wednesday, thanks to Mario Mandzukic's hattrick.

A fast start by last season's beaten finalists was rewarded when Raul Garcia prodded home at the near post after an awful attempted clearance from former Atletico goalkeeper Roberto.

Mandzukic had suffered a broken nose when Olympiakos beat Atletico 3-2 on matchday one, but the Croatian had a far more enjoyable evening this time round and opened his account with a tap in after Alberto Botia failed to cut out Cristian Ansaldi's low cross, Sport24 reported.

And he completed his hattrick with two powerful headers in three minutes just after the hour mark.

Victory for Juventus away to Malmo means Atletico just need to avoid defeat by two or more goals when they travel to Turin in two weeks' time in order to top the group.

Olympiakos, meanwhile, now need a big favour from Atletico if they are to progress as they need to beat Malmo at home next time out and hope Diego Simeone's men win in Italy, the report added.