Arsenal, Chelsea, Roma advance to round of 16

Arsenal left their best performance for the last game of the Champions League group stage, advancing to the Round of 16 with a remarkable 3-0 victory at Olympiakos on Wednesday. Chelsea also went through on a good night for English football with a 2-0 home win over FC Porto.

“I told you before that it would be the greatest escape,” Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger said.

Both Arsenal and Chelsea were trying to avoid following in the footsteps of fellow Premier League club Manchester United, which was eliminated on Tuesday.

Roma’s 0-0 draw against BATE Borisov was just enough to allow the Italian club to edge Bayer Leverkusen for second place in their group. Leverkusen couldn’t manage more than a 1-1 home draw against already qualified Barcelona as Lionel Messi scored his 80th goal in the tournament.

Belgian side Gent advanced in their first ever Champions League campaign after beating already qualified Zenit St Petersburg 2-1, a result that eliminated Valencia in Gary Neville’s first game in charge of the Spanish club.

Group E

With nothing to play for, group winner Barcelona played Bayer Leverkusen with a largely reserve side bolstered by Lionel Messi. And the Barcelona captain came through again, scoring his 80th Champions League goal.

He collected a perfect through ball from Ivan Rakitic and rounded the goalkeeper to score in the 20th. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez leveled three minutes later but it was too little for Leverkusen to advance.

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique was without Neymar because of an injury and benched Luis Suarez to give him some rest, while Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique didn’t even travel to Germany.

“We had enough chances to win the match,” Leverkusen coach Roger Schmidt said. “It’s very disappointing.”

In Rome, the hosts did the bare minimum against BATE Borisov and the 0-0 draw was enough to place them second behind Barcelona. Roma and Leverkusen each finished with six points but Roma held the edge with a better head-to-head record. BATE finished last with five points.

Group F

Olivier Giroud scored a hat trick as Arsenal advanced with a 3-0 win over Olympiakos, overturning an advantage held by the Greeks ahead of the final match.

The France striker opened the scoring in the 29th minute and struck again four minutes after halftime. He closed the scoring by converting a penalty kick in the 67th minute.

“Not many people gave us a chance but we are a real team,” Wenger said. “It is certainly one of my best European results. We had to produce a perfect performance to win and we did just that.”

Olympiakos, which beat Arsenal 3-2 in London, would have advanced with a draw.

Group winner Bayern Munich beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 with a pair of goals by striker Robert Lewandowski.

Group G

Chelsea finally had something to celebrate in their unexpectedly poor season after qualifying for the knockout phase with a 2-0 home victory over Porto.

The hosts scored through an own goal by Ivan Marcano in the 12th minute and Willian sealed the victory in the 52nd minute.

Chelsea not only avoided the embarrassment of dropping into the Europa League, but Jose Mourinho’s team advanced as the group winner. His former club, Porto, finished third and was eliminated.

Dynamo Kiev advanced in second place thanks to a 1-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv in Ukraine. The game was played in an empty stadium in the Ukrainian capital Kiev as part of Dynamo’s punishment for racist attacks by their fans in October.

Dynamo will also have to hold the home leg of their first knockout round tie behind closed doors.

Group H

Gent gave Belgium a spot in the knockout stage after beating group winner Zenit St Petersburg 2-1 with goals by Laurent Depoitre and Danijel Milicevic.

Even a defeat would have been enough for Gent because Lyon went to Valencia and beat the hosts 2-0.

“They were better than us and there’s no excuse,” said Valencia coach Gary Neville, the former Manchester United and England defender who took over the Spanish club on Sunday. “We can’t be happy with how we played and we can’t blame anyone.”

Zenit easily won the group with 15 points, five more than Gent. Valencia was third with six points and Lyon last with four.

Mourinho tracks history

Mourinho believes his Chelsea team could challenge for the Champions League this season despite their woeful form in the Premier League.

Mourinho said history showed the favourites often find it hard to excel in Europe’s most prestigious club competition.

“It’s obvious a team struggling so much as we are is not obviously a candidate to win the Champions League,” he told reporters.

“But when we won in Porto in 2004 we were not candidates. When we won with Inter in 2010 we were not candidates. When we were candidates, we lost two semifinals with Real Madrid, we lost two semifinals with Chelsea. So let’s see.”

Chelsea’s only triumph in the Champions League, in 2012, came under former manager Roberto di Matteo, when the London side were having a poor domestic season.

Despite retaining the loyal support of the Chelsea fans, who chanted his name throughout Wednesday’s game, Mourinho’s position at Stamford Bridge has come under intense pressure after his side lost eight of their first 15 English league games this season.

Mourinho paid tribute to his players for playing for a win against Porto when a draw would have been enough to secure qualification for the knock-out phase.

“The thing that I am more happy with, apart from the result, is the fact that we needed one point to qualify and the players accepted the challenge to play to win and that is not easy when the moment is so bad, the results are so negative and the pressure is so high,” he said.

“They were brave to accept that.”

Mourinho said Chelsea had enjoyed a bit more luck against Porto than in their English league games after the Londoners took the lead courtesy of a fortunate rebound off Porto defender Ivan Marcano.

“That little bit of luck we never have in the Premier League,” he said.

All of Chelsea’s potential opponents are hoping to be drawn against the Premier League side in the last 16 of the Champions League, manager Jose Mourinho has said.

Mourinho’s men face one of six group runners-up over two legs in the competition’s first knockout round.

The Blues will learn their next opponents after Monday’s draw and could face either Paris St Germain, PSV Eindhoven, Benfica, Juventus, Roma or Gent.

Arsenal and Dynamo Kiev are the two other runners-up, but cannot be drawn against Chelsea as the rules bar teams from the same country and those that have already played each other in the group stages from facing off in the next round.

“Every team finishing second wants to play us or Zenit St Petersburg,” Mourinho said.