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The usual suspects advance in Champions League (UPDATE)

Other News Materials 9 December 2010 02:11 (UTC +04:00)

The usual suspects advanced after the final round of group matches in the Champions League on Wednesday, with Arsenal joining Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, amongst others, in the knock-out stages, dpa reported.

   Arsenal made heavy weather of their 3-1 victory against Partizan Belgrade, winning the Group H match through goals by Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott and Samir Nasri. Cleo had momentarily equalized for the visitors.

   The home side were reduced to 10 men five minutes from the end after Bacary Sagna was sent off for a foul committed as last man.

Penalty scorer van Persie, who completed a match for the first time this season, said they had felt the pressure.

   "They played quite well; they handled the passing game, they're a good team but when (Theo Walcott) came on it made a difference."

   Shakhtar Donetsk beat Portuguese club Braga 2-0 to win the group with 13 points, one more than the Premier League club. Romanian international defender Razvan Rat and Luiz Adriano scored the goals for the home side.

   Braga, who finished on 10 points, advance to the Europa League.

   In Group E, Bayern Munich won comfortably 3-0 against Basle, with Franck Ribery and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk scoring twice within the space of two minutes in the first half and the French international Ribery adding a second four minutes after the restart.

"We scored goals and could have scored more as we created the chances. I am very satisfied, we have now won five games in the group stage and that is good," Bayern coach Louis van Gaal said.

"I think this result will have given us confidence for the Bundesliga," he said.

   Roma, who drew 1-1 in Cluj, finished second in the group behind Bayern Munich, while Basle advanced to the Europa League as third- placed team.

   In Cluj, Marco Borriello scored midway through the first half for the visitors, but Lacina Traore levelled matters two minutes from the end.

   Former champions AC Milan slumped to a 2-0 home defeat against Ajax Amsterdam, who scored both goals in the second half through Demy de Zeeuw and Toby Alderweireld.

   The Serie A side had already assured themselves of finishing second in Group G behind Real Madrid, who won 4-0 against Auxerre.

   Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick for the Spanish club, who had coach Jose Mourinho in the stands after he was banned for encouraging his players to be red-carded in their previous game.

   The La Liga side fielded several reserves, including 38-year-old goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, who had to leave the field with an injury in first-half injury time.

   Olympique Marseille secured second place in Group F behind Chelsea with a 1-0 victory against the Premier League side. Brandao scored the only goal of the match late in the game to see the French side move to 12 points.

Spartak Moscow won the other group game 2-1 in Zilina through Tomas Majtan and Ibson, while Alex scored for the home side. Ibson was sent off in the 77th minute for dangerous play.

The match was suspended for some 20 minutes after Spartak fans shot flares onto the field.

   Moscow finished third in the group.

   On Tuesday Tottenham Hotspur won their group ahead of the defending champions Inter Milan, while Manchester United topped Group C from Valencia.

   Also on Tuesday, FC Copenhagen went through to the knock-out stage for the first time in their history with a victory against Panathinaikos Athens to finish second behind Barcelona.

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