Football | Champions League: Seven champs advance to the round of 16

Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud, not seen, scores against Olympiakos’ goalkeeper Roberto to claim the opening goal during his team’s Champions League Group F soccer match

Arsenal left its 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 yesterday. Chelsea also went through on a good night for English soccer 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.
Roma’s 0-0 draw against BATE Borisov was just enough to allow the Italian club to edge Bayer Leverkusen for second place in its 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 its 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.
The day before, Ronaldo scored four goals and set up two others as Madrid routed Malmo 8-0, making him the first player with 10 goals or more in the group stage of the Champions League.
The Portuguese striker reached 11 goals in six games, surpassing the nine scored by Luiz Adriano with Shakhtar Donetsk last season. Ronaldo also scored nine times in the 2013-14 season group stage.
Madrid had already secured first place in Group A, but the convincing victory helped ease the pressure on coach Rafa Benitez and club president Florentino Perez.
Ronaldo’s former club Manchester United was relegated to the Europa League after getting beat 3-2 by Wolfsburg, as the German side advanced to the round of 16 for the first time.
Wolfsburg won the group and PSV also advanced.
Atletico Madrid won Group C by beating Benfica 2-1 to leapfrog the Portuguese host, which took second.
In Group D, Manchester City scored three late goals in a five-minute span to beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-2 and finish top for the first time. Juventus, last season’s runner-up, wasted a chance to finish first with a 1-0 loss at Sevilla, although still advanced.
Group A
Ronaldo’s exploits overshadowed a hat trick by Karim Benzema at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
It was the second straight game in which Benzema scored at least two goals after a brace in the team’s 4-1 win over Getafe in the Spanish league on Saturday. Those were his first goals since being implicated in a blackmail case in relation to an alleged extortion scam over a sex tape featuring his French national teammate Mathieu Valbuena.
Mateo Kovacic also scored for Madrid.
Also, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lucas set each other up for goals as Paris Saint-Germain beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0.
PSG was already guaranteed to finish second behind Madrid.
Madrid advanced with 16 points and PSG with 13. Shakhtar finished third with three points and dropped into the Europa League while Malmo came last, also with three points but with only one goal scored and 21 conceded.

Group B
Central defender Naldo scored a brace as Wolfsburg advanced to the knockout stage for the first time when it beat three-time winner Manchester United 3-2. United dropped to third place in the group when PSV Eindhoven came from behind to beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 and join Wolfsburg in the round of 16.
Wolfsburg won the group with 12 points and PSV finished with 10, two more than United, which will now have to play in the Europa League. CSKA finished last with four points.
PSV advanced for the first time since 2006. Veteran defender Sergei Ignashevic converted a 76th-minute penalty to give CSKA the lead, but PSV captain Luuk de Jong equalized just two minutes later, and midfielder Davy Proepper’s low shot sealed the win in the 86th.
In Wolfsburg, Anthony Martial put United ahead in the 10th, but Naldo volleyed in the equalizer in the 14th. Vieirinha regained the lead for Wolfsburg in the 29th, before an own goal by Joshua Guilavogui in the 82nd tied the score. But two minutes later Naldo scored his second with a header to seal Wolfsburg’s victory.

Group C
Luciano Vietto scored one goal and set up another as Atletico Madrid won 2-1 at Benfica to win the group.
Playing at the same stadium where it lost the 2014 final, Diego Simeone’s side avenged a 2-1 loss to Benfica from earlier this season.
Vietto passed for midfielder Saul Niguez to convert Atletico’s aggressive start into a goal after half an hour, before he added a strike of his own early in the second half.
Benfica substitute Kostas Mitroglou halved the difference in the 75th.
Galatasaray was held to 1-1 at home by Astana in the other Group C match. The Turkish side finished third and will join the Europa League.
Atletico finished with 13 points, Benfica with 10, Galatasaray with five and Astana with four.

Group D
Raheem Sterling netted in the 80th and 81st minutes and Wilfried Bony scored in the 85th to spark Manchester City’s late turnaround in a 4-2 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach
To qualify in first place, City also needed Juventus to lose in Sevilla and last season’s runner-up was beaten 1-0.
Sevilla secured a berth in the Europa League as Fernando Llorente scored against his former team.
On the two previous occasions City reached the knockout stage, it was runner-up in the group and drew Barcelona both times. The English club is likely to get an easier draw in the last 16 this time.
City finished with 12 points, Juventus with 11, Sevilla with six and ‘Gladbach with five. Tales Azzoni, Sports Writer, AP

the draw: luck with rules

The UEFA Champions League round of 16 draw in Nyon will be streamed live on UEFA.com from 7pm on Monday 14 (Macau time).
Two seeding pots will be formed: one consisting of group winners and the other of runners-up.
Confirmed group winners: Real Madrid (Group A, ESP), Wolfsburg (B, GER), Atlético Madrid (C, ESP), Manchester City (D, ENG), Barcelona (E, ESP, holders), Bayern München (F, GER), Chelsea (G, ENG), Zenit (H, RUS)
Confirmed group runners-up: Paris Saint-Germain (Group A, FRA), PSV Eindhoven (B, NED), Benfica (C, POR), Juventus (D, ITA), Roma (E, ITA), Arsenal (F, ENG), Dynamo Kyiv (G, UKR), Gent (H, BEL)
– No team can play a club from their group or any side from their own association.
– Due to a decision of the UEFA Executive Committee, teams from Russia and Ukraine cannot meet.
– Seeded group winners will be away in the round of 16 first legs on 16/17 and 23/24 February and at home in the return matches on 8/9 and 15/16 March.
Courtesy uefa.com