Barcelona and AC Milan qualified for the Round of 16, while there were hiccups for Arsenal, Chelsea and FC Porto as APOEL’s stunning run continued.
Group H
| Pos | Team | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FC Barcelona | +11 | 10 |
| 2 | AC Milan | +4 | 8 |
| 3 | BATE Borisov | -7 | 2 |
| 4 | Viktoria Plzen | -8 | 1 |
Viktoria Plzen 0 def by FC Barcelona 4 (Messi 24’ pen, 45’, 90’, Fabregas 72’)
Argentine superstar Lionel Messi put on a show against 10-man Plzen, with a hat-trick which brought up his 200th Barcelona goal. Gerard Pique’s piece of magic for Messi’s third and Barca’s fourth was something else as the reigning European champions progressed to the Round of 16.
Barca boss Pep Guardiola said: “The most important thing is that we’re through to the next phase and evidently in our next game against AC Milan we’ll be fighting for top spot in the group. We’re very satisfied to be in the next round with a couple of games to spare. European competition isn’t easy, especially at this stage of the season. It’s normal that you can underestimate opponents but at this level it takes a lot of effort [to win].”
BATE 1 (Renan 55’ pen) drew with AC Milan 1 (Ibrahimovic 22’)
AC Milan progress to the Round of 16, but they could’ve done it in style after dominating the first-half with Zlatan Ibrahimovic putting them ahead, before Robinho hit the post after rounding the keeper. BATE grabbed a leveller through Renan Bressan from the spot and that’s how it ended.
Milan boss Max Allegri said: “It’s typical in football. If you don’t kill off games when you can, then anything can happen. A free-kick, a corner and you can always concede the equaliser. In the end we also risked losing a game that was in our hands for more than an hour.”
Group G
| Pos | Team | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | APOEL | +2 | 8 |
| 2 | Zenit St Petersburg | +2 | 7 |
| 3 | FC Porto | -2 | 4 |
| 4 | Shakhtar Donetsk | -2 | 2 |
Zenit St Petersburg 1 (Lombaerts 45’) def Shakhtar Donetsk 0
Zenit looked the goods throughout the first-half but Shakhtar keeper Olexandr Rybka kept them at bay until Nicolas Lombaerts stoppage-time goal. Shakhtar came into the game in the second stanza but didn’t trouble the Russians too much and now last season’s quarter-finalists sit in a precarious position.
A delighted Zenit boss Luciano Spalletti said: “We played our own brand of football. We studied our opponents and knew what to expect. Zenit played a perfect, beautiful match. We created some 15 chances and Shakhtar had one shot on goal. Yes, after the break Shakhtar had a spell of possession – this team has real European experience and pedigree, so no wonder. The score was in our favour and they needed to do more, to take risks, and they could not do it.”
APOEL 2 (Ailton 42’ pen, Manduca 90’) def FC Porto 1 (Hulk 89’ pen)
Cypriots APOEL continued their surprise campaign to firm up for a spot in the final 16 after a stunning 2-1 victory over Porto. Ailton’s first-half goal separated the sides for most of the match, before the blonde Hulk levelled late, only for Gustavo Manduca to send the home crowd into raptures with a super late winner.
APOEL coach Ivan Jovanovic said: “This is truly a historic result for our club. We knew that Porto would come here and take charge of the game. We knew what a strong side they are but we also know who we are and what we are capable of. This is one of the most important wins for our club, also because we defeated a side which I respect a lot. This is a great night for Cypriot football.”
Group F
| Pos | Team | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | +2 | 8 |
| 2 | Marseille | +3 | 7 |
| 3 | Dortmund | -4 | 4 |
| 4 | Olympiacos | -1 | 3 |
Arsenal 0 drew with Marseille 0
The Gunners and OM produced an uninspiring goalless draw in London, which gives both sides a good opportunity to progress. There were goal chances for both sides but there wasn’t much cutting edge as it ended 0-0.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said: “We defended very well and tried very hard but lacked the quality in the final third to finish off our chances. We had a few in the first half. Aaron Ramsey had two and Robin van Persie in the second half as well. Overall it was a very difficult game. Marseille were physically very impressive and closed us down at every opportunity. We lacked match sharpness after our performance at Chelsea on Saturday.”
Dortmund 1 (Grosskreutz 7’) def Olympiacos 0
The German champions breathed new life in their Uefa Champions League campaign by claiming their first win of the tournament. Kevin Grosskreutz netted early on and while Olympiakos had their chances, Dortmund deserved to claim the points.
Ahead of tough final group games against Arsenal and Marseille, Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp said: “I will worry less about the pressure on the next game than I normally do. We’re capable of beating great teams, so we will go to London to try to beat Arsenal. My team will be inspired by the great stadium and we shall see what happens.”
Group E
| Pos | Team | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | +7 | 8 |
| 2 | Bayer Leverkusen | -1 | 6 |
| 3 | Valencia | +1 | 5 |
| 4 | Genk | -7 | 2 |
Genk 1 (Vossen 61’) drew with Chelsea 1 (Ramires 26’)
Ramires put the Blues ahead in the first half and they appeared in control, but David Luiz missed a spotkick which ultimately proved costly when the Belgians produced a fine move which was well finished by Jelle Vossen.
After a poor week, Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas said: “We will get back the momentum we had before the defeat to Queens Park Rangers [on 23 October]. At the moment it is not happening for us, it was a point away from home but it is a game we wanted to win. Not everything is negative but we wanted to win.”
Valencia 3 (Jonas 1’, Soldado 65’, Rami 75’) def Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Kiessling 31’)
Jonas got Valencia going with one of the fastest goals in Champions League history after a strike 10 seconds into the game. Stefan Kiessling levelled on the half hour mark, but Valencia ran away with it in the second half with close-range finishes from Roberto Soldado and Adil Rami.
Valencia coach Unai Emery said: “We’ve won three points with a victory that also gives us an advantage in terms of goal difference. The team showed great strength in what was a hard game where we were forced to find solutions to various problems. The result will make us more optimistic but we know we still have two finals left in this group.”