Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Shakhtar Donetsk andValencia reached the knockout stage of the Champions League on Tuesday, whileChelsea is on the verge of becoming the first titleholder to fail to make itout of the group stage.
Already under pressure in the Premier League after afour-game winless run, Chelsea lost 3-0 at Juventus to drop to third in Group Ebehind Shakhtar and Juve and place manager Roberto di Matteo under increasingpressure.
"At the moment I'm still here and I think I will be inthe future. We'll have to see what happens," said said Di Matteo, whospent more than an hour with his players in the dressing room. "I'mresponsible for the result, I'm responsible for the performance and tonight wasnegative. If anyone has to take the blame it's me. I select the team."
Fabio Quagliarella and Arturo Vidal — both on target forJuventus in the 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge — again scored against a Chelseateam without the dropped Fernando Torres and injured John Terry. SubstituteSebastian Giovinco capped the victory with a goal in the final minute.
"It's a big disappointment," Di Matteo said."It's been a difficult evening for us, for the team, for the club. Sothere was a lot of reflection."
Shakhtar showed it is a force to be reckoned with after acrushing 5-2 win over FC Nordsjaelland, with Luiz Adriano scoring a hat trickand Willian grabbing two goals.
Chelsea has to beat Nordsjaelland and hope for Shakhtar todefeat Juventus to go through at Juve's expense.
"It's mathematically still possible. And you always trywhile there's still hope," Di Matteo said. "Who says Juve are notgoing to lose against Shakhtar?"
Juventus assistant coach Angelo Alessio insists the playerswill not settle for a draw in Ukraine because "we're not used to playingfor a point, we want to win."
In Copenhagen, Nordsjaelland took the lead but Shakhtarequalized two minutes later in a contentious moment that enraged the crowd.
Willian kicked downfield after an uncontested drop balltoward the opposing box because of an injury to a Nordsjaelland player. Thehosts' defenders walked slowly to the ball, only to watch in amazement asAdriano raced through to score.
Barcelona advanced for the ninth straight season afterdefeating Spartak Moscow 3-0 in Group G with Lionel Messi scoring another twogoals to close to within five of Gerd Mueller's single-year record of 85.
"Messi is a perfect player, maybe the best player inthe world right now," Spartak coach Unai Emery said.
Daniel Alves put Barca ahead and Messi pounced twice beforehalftime to continue a remarkable season that includes 17 league goals andanother five in the European Cup. He has 56 Champions League goals in hiscareer, tying Ruud Van Nisterooy for second place and trailing only RaulGonzalez's tally of 71.
Two weeks after beating Barcelona at home in one of its bestever European performances, Celtic lost 2-1 at Benfica to remain level on sevenpoints with its Portuguese opponent.
At first glance, Celtic would seem to have the odds slightlyin its favor when it hosts Spartak and Benfica travels to Barcelona on Dec. 5.But if both matches end in a draw then the Portuguese club will advance.
Argentine defender Ezequiel Garay volleyed home in the 71stto give Benfica the win it needed to stay in the tournament following a32nd-minute equalizer from Greek forward Giorgos Samaras. Dutch striker OlaJohn gave Benfica an early lead with his first goal for the club.
Bayern, last year's finalist, and Valencia both advancedfrom Group F after drawing 1-1 in Spain, extinguishing Belarusian side BATEBorisov's slim chances of qualifying.
Valencia went down to 10 men in the 33rd minute after rightback Antonio Barragan was sent off but went ahead thanks to midfielder SofianeFeghouli's goal in the 77th. Thomas Mueller equalized five minutes later with ashot that grazed Feghouli.
"We put in a huge effort and did the best we couldbecause they are a great team, so we are really very happy," saidFeghouli.
Lille salvaged some pride from a miserable campaign bywinning 2-0 at BATE, its first win of the competition. But the French clubfailed to score enough goals to stand a chance of qualifying ahead of BATE forthe Europa League.
Already-qualified Manchester United lacked firepower inlosing 1-0 at Galatasaray after fielding an under-strength team.
United, which left key players at home after losing 1-0 atNorwich in the Premier League at the weekend, was unable to respond to BurakYilmaz's header at the start of the second half. Yilmaz has scored all fivegoals for Galatasaray in Group H.
"Parts of the game were good but the area in which wewere worried about — set-pieces — we suffered," United coach Alex Fergusonsaid. "That was always going to be a worry for us."
The Turkish side remains in second place ahead of CFR Clujon head-to-head record. Both sides have seven points with one game remaining.Cluj remains in the hunt for a knockout berth after beating Braga 3-1 followinga hat trick from Rui Pedro.
In the last round of matches in two weeks, Cluj visitsUnited while Galatasaray travels to eliminated Braga.