The Hindu : Sport / Football : Man United, Arsenal make the cut

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Man United, Arsenal make the cut

— Photo: AP

STELLAR PERFORMANCE: Ronaldo, seen handling by Dynamo Kiev's Vitaliy Mandziuk here, did the star turn for Real , scoring two goals.

LONDON: Manchester United, Arsenal, FC Porto and Lille qualified for the second round of the Champions League on Wednesday, completing the 16-team field for the first knockout stage.

Manchester United rallied to a 3-1 win over Benfica, the team that eliminated the English club from last season's competition, and Arsenal and Porto both advanced after a 0-0 draw. Lille beat AC Milan 2-0 to join the Italian club in the next round.

The four clubs join defending champion FC Barcelona and AS Roma, who qualified Wednesday. Ten others had already qualified: Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia, Lyon, Real Madrid, Celtic and AC Milan.

Werder Bremen, Spartak Moscow, Bordeaux, Shakhtar Donetsk, Steaua Bucharest, Benfica, CSKA Moscow and AEK Athens all finished third in their groups and will play in the UEFA Cup.

Porto scored first at Old Trafford, with Nelson curling the ball high into the Manchester United net in the 27th minute after taking a cross from Simao. The Red Devils pushed hard for an equaliser and got it in first-half injury time when Nemanja Vidic scored with a header off a free kick by Ryan Giggs.

Cristiano Ronaldo set up Giggs to head in United's second goal in the 61st, and Louis Saha headed in United's third in the 75th.

Benfica's 2-1 win in the final group game last season ensured United missed out on the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Real Madrid rallied to draw 2-2 at Dynamo Kiev. Maxim Shatskikh scored in the 13th and 27th minutes for Dynamo Kiev, but Madrid striker Ronaldo answered with goals in the 86th and 88th.

The results: AC Milan 0 lost to Lille 2 (Odemwingie 8, Keita 67); FC Porto 0 drew with Arsenal 0; Manchester United (Vidic 45, Giggs 61, Saha 75) bt Benfica 1 (Nelson 27); Dynamo Kiev 2 (Shatskikh 13, Shatskikh 27) drew with Real Madrid 2 (Ronaldo 87, Ronaldo 88-pen.); Lyon 1 (Diarra 12) drew with Steaua Bucharest 1 (Dica 3); FC Copenhagen 3 (Hutchinson 2, Gronkjaer 27, Allback 57) bt Celtic 1 (Jarosik 75); Hamburg 3 (Berisha 28, Van der Vaart 84, Sanogo 90) bt CSKA Moscow 2 (Olic 23-pen., Zhirkov 65); Anderlecht 2 (Lakis 76, Cirillo 81) AEK Athens 2 (Lakis 76, Cirillo 81).

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