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AC Milan, Marseille through; Arsenal shocked

PARIS: AC Milan and Marseille reached the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday, but Arsenal's hopes of joining them are in the balance following a shock defeat at Sporting Braga.

Seven-time champion Milan was made to work hard before emerging from its trip to Auxerre with a 2-0 victory that secured second place in Group ‘G' behind Real Madrid.

The French side had procured all the clear-cut chances until Zlatan Ibrahimovic blasted Milan ahead in the 64th minute, with substitute Ronaldinho curling home in injury time to complete the victory.

Real made sure of top spot in the group and continued its unbeaten record in this season's competition by thrashing Ajax 4-0 in Amsterdam.

Karim Benzema broke the deadlock by side-footing into the roof of the net in the 36th minute, with full-back Alvaro Arbeloa doubling the Spanish side's lead with a long-ranger just before half-time.

A second-half brace from Cristiano Ronaldo, the second a penalty, set the seal on a comfortable victory, but Real had Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos sent off for two bookable offences late on.

Both players received their second cautions for time-wasting and will now miss Real's final group game at home to Ajax.

French champion Marseille had earlier secured its place in the knockout round with an impressive 3-0 win at Spartak Moscow.

Smart finish

Beaten 1-0 in the reverse fixture in September, Marseille had to win to make sure of second place in Group F and it assumed control of proceedings in the 18th minute through a smart turn and finish by Mathieu Valbuena.

Valbuena's France international colleague Loic Remy made it 2-0 nine minutes into the second half, before Brandao fired into the bottom-right corner to rubber-stamp Marseille's progress.

Spartak saw Brazilian striker Welliton dismissed between Marseille's second and third .

In the other group fixture, a youthful Chelsea side came from a goal down to win 2-1 at home to Slovakians MSK Zilina and preserve its 100 per cent record in this season's competition.

Two late goals from Matheus saw Arsenal slump to a 2-0 defeat at Braga that means Arsene Wenger's side must beat Partizan Belgrade in their final group match to be sure of reaching the next stage. Arsenal had a strong penalty appeal turned down after Carlos Vela went down in the penalty area under a challenge by Alberto Rodriguez and within minutes Matheus had scampered through to put the host ahead.

The Brazilian striker crashed home his second in injury time, and Arsenal's disappointment was compounded by the sight of captain Cesc Fabregas limping off with an apparent hamstring injury.

The results:

Group E: Roma 3 (Borriello 49, De Rossi 81, Totti 84-pen) bt Bayern Munich 2 (Gomez 33, 39); Basel 1 (Almerares 15) bt CFR Cluj 0.

Group F: Chelsea 2 (Sturridge 51, Malouda 86) bt MSK Zilina 1 (Bello 19); Spartak Moscow 0 lost to Marseille 3 (Valbuena 18, Remy 54, Brandao 68).

Group G: Auxerre 0 lost to AC Milan 2 (Ibrahimovic 64, Ronaldinho 90+1); Ajax 0 lost to Real Madrid 4 (Benzema 36, Arbeloa 44, Ronaldo 70, 81-pen).

Group H: Sporting Braga 2 (Matheus 83, 90+3) bt Arsenal 0; Partizan Belgrade0 lost to Shakhtar Donetsk 3 (Stepanenko 52, Jadson 59, Eduardo 68) . — AFP

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