Man Utd, Valencia, Inter Milan, Tottenham, Barcelona seal their progress to Champions League last 16
Teams sealing their progress to the next round of Champions League last night were Manchester United, Valencia, Barcelona, Tottenham and Inter Milan. All the four European giants are now guaranteed a place in the next round barring a catastrophic match day
6.
Barcelona were the most convincing winners last night as they dispatched Panathinaikos 3-0 at the Athens Olympic stadium. But the Blaugrana coach, Pep Guardiola is not yet happy with his side's performance and was quoted as saying that he still did not think
that his side is unstoppable in the competition so far. It still remains to be seen how fit and ready they are when the knockout round begins in February.
Pedro Rodriguez opened the scoring on the night for the Catalans when he latched on to a Dani Alves through ball and smashed it across the goal into the far corner. Messi then doubled the visitors' lead with a close range finish, completing a mesmeric passing
move that would have unlocked even the best of defences in the world.
This goal means that Messi has now scored in all of the last 10 matches that he has played for his club and country.
Pedro put his side 3-0 up in the second half and made sure that they go into the next week’s El Classico with their qualification wrapped up.
In the same group, Russian champions Rubin Kazan reignited their hopes of qualification with a 1-0 win over FC Copenhagen in Moscow. Going into the match, the Russians trailed their Danish counterparts by 4 points but cut the lead to only 1 with a well deserved
win. Cristian Noboa scored from the penalty spot in the dying minutes of the first half to make sure his side go into the last match day with their hopes of making into the next round still intact.
Also booking their berth in the next round were the holders, Inter Milan who won 1-0 at the Guesseppe Meazza against FC Twente. Going into the match, there were speculations in the market that Rafael Benitez’s job as the manager was in danger as his Inter
are currently lying outside the top 5 in the Serie A but the Italian got the monkey off his back albeit for a little while.
Cambiasso was the scorer for Nerazurris as a Wesley Sneijder free kick was deflected onto his path and the veteran made no mistake from close range.
Over at the Estadio Mestalla in Spain, it was a massacre as Los Che annihilated Turkish minnows Bursaspor by 6 goals to 1. The result meant that both Valencia and Manchester United will progress to the next round after the Red Devils defeated Rangers at
the Ibrox by a solitary goal.
Wayne Rooney scored only his second goal of the season to make sure that his side remained top of their group but the group winners will only be finalized in two week’s time when the top two meet at Old Trafford.
Rooney marked his return to the first team with a clinically dispatched penalty that his side were awarded after Fabio was kicked in the face inside the box by a Rangers' defender and the referee, blew pointing towards the spot.
Over at the Mestalla, two goals from Roberto Soldado and one apiece from Manuel Mata, Artiz Aduriz, Dominguez and Jaoquin piled on the misery on Turkish minnows who scored their first goal in the competition last night but it could prove to be no more than
a consolation.
Over in Group B, last season’s semi-finalists Lyon also progressed despite suffering a 3-0 loss at the hands of Schalke.
Jeffersen Farfan opened the scoring on the night for the Germans while the dynamic Dutchman Klaas Jaan Huntelaar added two more to make sure both the sides progressed to the last 16.
But, such was only made possible courtesy a shock result in Israel where tournament debutants, Hapoel Tel Aviv notched up their first win in the competition by defeating SL Benfica 3-0.
Eran Zahavi with two and Douglas Da Silva with one were the scorers for the hosts on the night.
Also winning 3-0 on the night were Tottenham Hotspur who defeated Werder Bremen at White Hart Lane with goals from Luka Modric, Peter Crouch and Younus Kaboul.
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