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Sports / Soccer |
Spanish and Italian rivals reach knockout stage(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-28 10:53 BELGRADE - Inter Milan and Serie A rivals AS Roma reached the last 16 of the Champions League along with Spain's 2006 winners Barcelona and Sevilla on Tuesday. Inter clinched Group G after a fine second-half display earned them a 3-0 home win over Fenerbahce, who stay second but had their lead over PSV Eindhoven cut to a single point after the Dutch side won 1-0 at CSKA Moscow. Roma romped to a 4-1 win at Dynamo Kiev in Group F with two goals by Montenegro striker Mirko Vucinic. They join Manchester United, who secured top spot in the group after coming from behind to beat Sporting 2-1 at Old Trafford. Barcelona won Group E after a 2-2 draw at Olympique Lyon left them four points clear of Rangers and the French champions, who meet in a decisive clash at Ibrox next month. Rangers, who were beaten 3-2 at VfB Stuttgart, have the head-to-head edge after winning the reverse fixture 3-0. Double UEFA Cup winners Sevilla will progress from Group H in their first season in the Champions League after a 3-1 home win over Arsenal enabled them to leapfrog the Premier League leaders into pole position. Inter struggled to find their attacking rhythm in the first half at San Siro, but things soon swung their way after the break. Julio Cruz sent them on their way with a scrambled effort in the 55th minute before Zlatan Ibrahimovic headed in his fifth goal of the campaign from a superb Cristian Chivu cross. Luis Jimenez rounded off the scoring in injury time. BETTER START Roma made a better start in Kiev, with Christian Panucci opening the scoring after just four minutes before French forward Ludovic Giuly tapped home a second in the 33rd minute. Vucinic scored in the 36th and 78th minutes to wrap up the victory, either side of a goal for Dynamo by Ismael Bangoura. Alex Ferguson's United side fell behind to a stunning 21st minute strike by right back Abel at Old Trafford. But they maintained their perfect record in Europe this season after Cristiano Ronaldo set up the equaliser for Carlos Tevez on the hour and scored an injury-time winner. The Portugal forward rifled in a ferocious free kick against his old club after scoring the winner in Lisbon in September. Barcelona led twice at Stade de Gerland through Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi, only for Lyon to salvage a draw thanks to a brace from Juninho, who beat keeper Victor Valdes with a free kick from 35 metres and an 80th-minute penalty. In Stuttgart, Charlie Adam gave Rangers a 27th-minute lead moments after coming on for Lee McCulloch and Barry Ferguson made it 2-2 after the home side had turned the match around. Ciprian Marica had the final say with an 85th-minute winner for the German champions. Croatia striker Eduardo da Silva fired already-qualified Arsenal ahead at Sevilla but the home side hit back through Seydou Keita, Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute in a highly-entertaining encounter. Slavia Prague secured a UEFA Cup berth - reserved for eight third-placed teams after the winter break - from the same group with a 1-1 draw at Romanian champions Steaua Bucharest. |
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