Liverpool and Real Madrid secured berths in the Champions League
last 16 with emphatic wins in their final group matches
yesterday.
Nine-times champions Real Madrid topped Group C with a 3-1 win
over Lazio while Liverpool, the winners of five titles, advanced
from Group A with a 4-0 rout of Olympique Marseille.
Liverpool's third successive victory in Europe, after they
picked up only one point from their opening three matches, sent the
2005 winners through with 2004 holders Porto, who secured top spot
in the group with a 2-0 defeat of Besiktas.
Olympiakos Piraeus also reached the knockout phase by finishing
second behind Real while Schalke 04 qualified as runners-up in
Group B to Chelsea, who had already booked their place as group
winners with a game to spare.
Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez attributed his team's victory on
the French coast to a performance of the highest class.
"I'm proud to be the manager of this club," he said. "The
supporters were fantastic and the performance of the team was
almost perfect."
Clinical finish
Steven Gerrard blasted home the rebound from his penalty kick
parried by goalkeeper Steve Mandanda and Fernando Torres scored
after weaving his way past three defenders to give Liverpool a 2-0
lead in the opening 11 minutes.
Dirk Kuyt made it 3-0 with a clinical finish shortly after the
break and substitute Ryan Babel finished off the French side after
walking the ball into an empty net in injury time.
"The players showed determination going forward and played
together as a compact unit," said Benitez, who now faces a meeting
with the Premier League club's American owners over his comments
last month about transfer policy.
"I was not thinking about my own situation, just about the
match," he said.
Marseille suffered a third consecutive loss and their UEFA Cup
spot, reserved for the eight third-placed teams, will be scant
consolation for the 1993 European champions.
Real raced into an early 2-0 lead after Robinho set up Brazil
strike partner Julio Baptista to drill in the opener and then swung
in a corner for Raul to head home his 59th goal in Europe's premier
club competition.
Robinho scored the third in the 36th minute from close range to
help Real reach the last 16 for the 11th successive season. Goran
Pandev pulled one back for the Italian side in the 80th minute.
Stoltidis double
Greek champions Olympiakos joined Real from Group C after two
goals by Ieroklis Stoltidis either side of a Darko Kovacevic header
gave them a 3-0 home win over Werder Bremen.
Chelsea, who had already sewn up Group B, drew 0-0 with
eliminated Valencia at Stamford Bridge.
Their passage means all four Premier League teams in the
competition, including Manchester United and Arsenal, have reached
the last 16.
Schalke beat Rosenborg 3-1 at home to leapfrog the Norwegian
side into second position in Group B thanks to goals from Gerald
Asamoah, Rafinha and Kevin Kuranyi.
Crisp finishing by Asamoah and Rafinha gave Schalke a 2-0 lead
in the opening 19 minutes and Germany striker Kuranyi secured
Schalke's passage after Yssouf Kone had briefly restored
Rosenborg's hopes of snatching the draw they needed.
Holders AC Milan and Celtic advanced from Group D in which the
final matches were played last week because of Milan's involvement
in the Club World Cup in Japan.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily December 12, 2007)