Bayern Munich and Benfica advance, but United in trouble

Bayern Munich and Benfica Lisbon advanced to the knock-out stage of the Champions League on Tuesday, dpa reported.

The German Bundesliga team went through with a 3-1 victory against Spanish club Villarreal, while Benfica advanced courtesy of a 2-2 draw at Manchester United.

Bayern have an unassailable lead at the top of Group A after goals from Franck Ribery - who scored twice - and Mario Gomez gave them victory against Villarreal, who have now lost all five matches.

A 2-1 victory against Manchester City took Napoli into second place in the group on eight points, while City are on seven. Bayern have 13 points and are guaranteed first place in the group.

In Group C the results threw the group wide open as Benfica are secured of a place in the next round after their draw in Manchester, while United have to avoid defeat in Basle in their final game to join them in the knock-out phase.

Benfica took the lead at Old Trafford through an own goal by Phil Jones, but Dimitar Berbatov and Darren Fletcher turned things around. Pablo Aimar secured a deserved share of the spoils for the visitors in the 61st minute.

Benfica top the group on the basis of their head-to-head result against United, who like the Portuguese team have nine points. Basle, who won 3-2 at Otelul Galati, are on eight points.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, continued their impressive Champions League form as they trounced Dinamo Zagreb 6-2 in their Group D game.

The former champions, who are the only club in the competition with a maximum 15 points from their opening five games, scored three times within the opening eight minutes through Karim Benzema, Jose Callejon and Gonzalo Higuain.

Germany international Mesut Oezil added a fourth in the 20th minute to put the home side firmly in the driving seat.

Callejon opened the scoring in the second half just three minutes after the restart and Benzema scored his second in the 66th, before Fatos Beqiraj and Ivan Tomecak pulled two back for the visitors.

Ajax Amsterdam, who played to a goalless draw at Olympique Lyon, are second behind Madrid on eight points and need just a point from their last game at home to the table-toppers to qualify.

In an earlier game French club Lille played themselves back into contention for a place in the knock-out stages by scoring twice in the second-half for a 2-0 win at CSKA Moscow in a Group B game.

The visitors had more of the opening half in icy conditions in Moscow, but had only a shot against the crossbar from Mathieu Debuchy to show for it before an own by Vasily Berezutsky and a second strike in the 64th minute from Moussa Sow gave them the victory.

The result gave Inter Milan a place in the knock-out stages of the competition as the former winners can finish no lower than second in the group.

Inter later drew their match 1-1 at Trabzonspor, who are now in second place on six points, while CSKA and Lille are both on five.