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Barcelona, Inter progress to last 16
December 11, 2009, Friday
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BARCELONA, Inter Milan, Stuttgart and Olympiakos advanced in the Champions League on Wednesday to complete the lineup for the next round.
Defending champion Barcelona needed an 86th-minute free-kick by Lionel Messi to win 2-1 at Dynamo Kiev and edge Inter to first place in Group F.
Inter beat Russia's Rubin Kazan 2-0 to advance, while Stuttgart took second place in Group G with a 3-1 win over Unirea Urziceni. Olympiakos beat already qualified Arsenal 1-0 to finish second to the Gunners in Group H.
Barcelona needed only to avoid a large defeat to advance and that looked possible when Artem Milevskiy hit an early goal for Dynamo, but Xavi Hernandez equalized in the 33rd after sustained pressure and European player of the year Messi made sure Barcelona qualified in first place ahead of Inter with his curling free-kick.
"I want to especially congratulate the entire squad because they put in an enormous effort, it was a terrible group and we had to overcome a lot," Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said. "We reacted well to going behind early and after the Dynamo goal they hardly got past the middle of the pitch. We showed patience in moving them around and we were able to control the match."
Samuel Eto'o and Mario Balotelli scored either side of halftime to give Inter Milan a 2-0 win over Rubin Kazan.
Eto'o opened the scoring in the 30th after being set up by an exchange between Javier Zanetti and Balotelli, before the latter scored a long-range free-kick in the 63rd.
Inter finished second in Group F with nine points, two fewer than Barcelona, leaving Rubin Kazan to drop into the Europa League as the third-place finisher.
Stuttgart secured second place to Sevilla in Group G with victory in its first game under new coach Christian Gross.
Ciprian Marica, Christian Traesch and Pavel Pogrebnyak scored inside the first 11 minutes to stun the Romanian team, which went into the match with a two-point lead over Stuttgart in Group G. Antonio Semedo pulled one back for Unirea in the 46th minute.
Sevilla had also already qualified from the group before beating Rangers 1-0.
Olympiakos advanced to the knockout stage through Leonardo's second-half goal against Arsenal, which lost its unbeaten record but still topped Group H.
Also, Alberto Gilardino scored in injury time to give Fiorentina a 2-1 win at Liverpool and first place in its Champions League group.
Five-time European champion Liverpool was already eliminated ahead its final group match but led in the 43rd minute through Yossi Benayoun. Martin Jorgensen equalized for already qualified Fiorentina 20 minutes later and Gilardino secured his team's fifth straight tournament win.
Fiorentina topped Group E ahead of Lyon, while Liverpool finished third and will contest the Europa League.
Lyon scored two goals in each half to rout last-place Debrecen 4-0.
"At this club you try to stay in the big tournaments as long as possible, but it's gone now," Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said.
Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich advanced alongside CSKA Moscow on Tuesday.
Manchester United, Bordeaux, Chelsea and FC Porto are the other teams in the draw for the next round, which will take place in Nyon, Switzerland, on December 18.
Defending champion Barcelona needed an 86th-minute free-kick by Lionel Messi to win 2-1 at Dynamo Kiev and edge Inter to first place in Group F.
Inter beat Russia's Rubin Kazan 2-0 to advance, while Stuttgart took second place in Group G with a 3-1 win over Unirea Urziceni. Olympiakos beat already qualified Arsenal 1-0 to finish second to the Gunners in Group H.
Barcelona needed only to avoid a large defeat to advance and that looked possible when Artem Milevskiy hit an early goal for Dynamo, but Xavi Hernandez equalized in the 33rd after sustained pressure and European player of the year Messi made sure Barcelona qualified in first place ahead of Inter with his curling free-kick.
"I want to especially congratulate the entire squad because they put in an enormous effort, it was a terrible group and we had to overcome a lot," Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said. "We reacted well to going behind early and after the Dynamo goal they hardly got past the middle of the pitch. We showed patience in moving them around and we were able to control the match."
Samuel Eto'o and Mario Balotelli scored either side of halftime to give Inter Milan a 2-0 win over Rubin Kazan.
Eto'o opened the scoring in the 30th after being set up by an exchange between Javier Zanetti and Balotelli, before the latter scored a long-range free-kick in the 63rd.
Inter finished second in Group F with nine points, two fewer than Barcelona, leaving Rubin Kazan to drop into the Europa League as the third-place finisher.
Stuttgart secured second place to Sevilla in Group G with victory in its first game under new coach Christian Gross.
Ciprian Marica, Christian Traesch and Pavel Pogrebnyak scored inside the first 11 minutes to stun the Romanian team, which went into the match with a two-point lead over Stuttgart in Group G. Antonio Semedo pulled one back for Unirea in the 46th minute.
Sevilla had also already qualified from the group before beating Rangers 1-0.
Olympiakos advanced to the knockout stage through Leonardo's second-half goal against Arsenal, which lost its unbeaten record but still topped Group H.
Also, Alberto Gilardino scored in injury time to give Fiorentina a 2-1 win at Liverpool and first place in its Champions League group.
Five-time European champion Liverpool was already eliminated ahead its final group match but led in the 43rd minute through Yossi Benayoun. Martin Jorgensen equalized for already qualified Fiorentina 20 minutes later and Gilardino secured his team's fifth straight tournament win.
Fiorentina topped Group E ahead of Lyon, while Liverpool finished third and will contest the Europa League.
Lyon scored two goals in each half to rout last-place Debrecen 4-0.
"At this club you try to stay in the big tournaments as long as possible, but it's gone now," Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said.
Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich advanced alongside CSKA Moscow on Tuesday.
Manchester United, Bordeaux, Chelsea and FC Porto are the other teams in the draw for the next round, which will take place in Nyon, Switzerland, on December 18.
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