Liverpool, Real Madrid reach last 16

BELGRADE: Liverpool and Real Madrid secured berths in the Champions League last 16 with emphatic wins in their final group matches on Tuesday.

Nine-time champion Real Madrid topped Group C with a 3-1 win over Lazio while Liverpool, the winner of five titles, advanced from Group A with a 4-0 rout of Olympique Marseille.

Liverpool's third successive victory in Europe, after it picked up only one point from its opening three matches, sent the 2005 winner through with 2004 holder Porto, which 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 runner-up in Group B to Chelsea, which had already booked its place as group winner 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 its UEFA Cup spot, reserved for the eight third-placed teams, will be scant consolation for the 1993 European champion.

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 champion Olympiakos joined Real from Group C after two goals by Ieroklis Stoltidis either side of a Darko Kovacevic header gave it a 3-0 home win over Werder Bremen.

Chelsea, which had already sewn up Group B, drew 0-0 with eliminated Valencia at Stamford Bridge.

Its 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 German striker Kuranyi secured Schalke's passage after Yssouf Kone had briefly restored Rosenborg's hopes of snatching the draw it 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

(China Daily 12/13/2007 page24)