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Barcelona, Inter seal KO place; Stuttgart and Olympiakos progress

Other News Materials 10 December 2009 01:51 (UTC +04:00)
Holders Barcelona and Inter Milan clinched progress to the last 16 of the Champions League along with VfB Stuttgart and Olympiakos on Wednesday, dpa reported.
Barcelona, Inter seal KO place; Stuttgart and Olympiakos progress

Holders Barcelona and Inter Milan clinched progress to the last 16 of the Champions League along with VfB Stuttgart and Olympiakos on Wednesday, dpa reported.

Barcelona sank Dynamo Kiev's brief hopes of an upset when Xavi levelled an early strike from the Ukrainians and Lionel Messi scored a late free-kick to give the Spanish side a 2-1 win and top spot in Group F.

Inter meanwhile defeated Russian champions Rubin Kazan 2-0 thanks to a first-half goal from Samuel Eto'o and a fierce free-kick from Mario Balotelli midway through the second half to finish second in the group.

Dynamo went ahead against Barca in the second minute when Artem Melevskiy got the slightest of touches with his head to an Andriy Shevchenko free-kick.

It was enough to irritate keep Victor Valdez who got down to the ball but could not prevent it squirming out of his hands and over the line.

Barca clawed their way back in the 33rd minute with a move started by Messi whose pass to Eric Abidal on the left was immediately sent across goal where Xavi with a fine touch did the rest.

Messi then struck the winner when he curled a left-footed free-kick under the bar with four minutes remaining - the goal consigning Dynamo to last place in the group behind Rubin.

Struggling German club VfB Stuttgart meanwhile stormed into the knockout stage with three goals in the first 11 minutes - the fastest start in Champions League history - in a 3-1 victory over Unirea Urzecini.

Coach Christian Gross, in his first game in charge, saw Ciprian Marica, Christian Traesh and Pavel Pogrebnyak score in the fifth, eighth and 11th minutes in a blitz start from the Germans before Antonio Semedo pulled a goal back two minutes after the break.

The win meant Stuttgart leapfrogged Unirea to finish in Group G behind already-qualified Sevilla who finished their campaign with a 1-0 win over Glasgow Rangers, Frederic Kanoute scoring an eighth-minute penalty.

Greek side Olympiakos made sure of second place behind Arsenal in Group H by beating a youthful Gunners 1-0, courtesy of a Leonardo goal shortly after the break.

Standard Liege grabbed a 1-1 draw in stoppage time - thanks to a header from goalkeeper Sinan Bolat - against Dutch side AZ Alkmaar to finish third in the group and book a place in the Europa League.

Bolat came up for a free-kick almost five minutes into injury time to head the ball into the top corner of the net.

Fiorentina - already qualified - snatched top spot in Group E with a last gasp goal from Alberto Gilardino for a 2-1 win at Liverpool, who were were already sure of third place and a Europa League berth.

Already qualified Olympique Lyon had to make do with second place despite breezing to a 4-0 victory over Hungarian outfit Debrecen who ended with six straight defeats.

Wednesday's four qualifiers join Chelsea, Porto, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Arsenal, Olympique Lyon, Girondins Bordeaux, Sevilla, Fiorentina, AC Milan and Real Madrid in the draw for the last 16 on December 18.

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