mardi 9 décembre 2014

Basel send Liverpool out, Juventus and Monaco clinch last-16 places

Berlin (dpa) - Basel sent five-time European champions Liverpool out of the Champions League with a 1-1 draw at Anfield, while Juventus and Monaco secured their places in the last 16 in their final group-stage matches Tuesday.

Liverpool had substitute Lazar Markovic sent off on the hour as
they drew 1-1 draw with Swiss champions Basel, who go through second behind holders Real Madrid - 4-0 winners over Ludogorets - in Group B.

Real become only the sixth side to win all six Champions League group games as they secured a Spanish record of 19 consecutive wins in all competitions.

Monaco went through at the top of Group C with a 2-0 defeat of Zenit St Petersburg, while Bayer Leverkusen, already qualified, finished second in the group after a goalless draw at Benfica.

Italian champions Juventus clinched the point they needed to progress in a goalless draw with Spanish champions and Group A winners Atletico Madrid.

Borussia Dortmund drew 1-1 at home to Anderlecht to finish top of Group D, level on points with Arsenal, who won 4-1 at Galatasaray. Both Dortmund and Arsenal had already qualified

Two more last-16 places are up for grabs in matches Wednesday in Groups E to H, where Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain, Barcelona, Chelsea, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk have also already booked their places in the knock-out stage. The draw is on Monday.

At Anfield, Liverpool went a goal behind and faced an uphill fight after the hour when half-time sub Markovic flicked out his arm to fend off Basel's Behrang Safari, who fell theatrically after being caught slightly in the face.

Fabian Frei gave Basel the lead with a left-foot shot from the edge of the area in the 25th minute, and Steven Gerrard's 81st-minute free-kick came too late to prevent Liverpool going into the Europa League.

"I don't think we deserved better," Gerrard told ITV sports. "We have not gone out because of this performance, we weren't good enough away to Basel and we let in a silly goal away to Ludogorets. You qualify over six games and we have not been good enough."

Real completed their perfect group stage with a 4-0 drubbing of visiting Ludogorets, who were down to 10 men after 20 minutes.

Cristiano Ronaldo converted a penalty in the 20th minute with a cool chip after Marcelinho was sent off for handling a Raphael Varane header on the goal-line.

It was the fifth goal in six Champions League games this season for Ronaldo and the 72nd in all in the competition for the Portugal international- now two behind record-holder Lionel Messi.

Gareth Bale headed a corner in off the underside of the bar to put Real further ahead in the 38th minute, and Alvaro Arbeloa and Alvaro Medran completed the rout with late goals.

Read midfielder Isco said: "We finished the group stage with all victories and we are happy. We have 19 straight victories and we want to keep doing better."

Monaco progressed thanks to goals from Aymen Abdennour, heading in from close range in the 63rd minute, and Fabinho in the 89th in a 2-0 defeat of Zenit.

Bayer Leverkusen came away with a goalless draw at Benfica, who finish last and fail to reach the Europa League after reaching the final of the competition last season when they lost on penalties to Sevilla.

Juve's draw with Atletico meanwhile meant Olympiakos had to make do with third spot in Group A despite a 4-2 defeat of Malmo.

In Dortmund, Ciro Immobile gave the Bundesliga side a 58th-minute lead over Anderlecht but Aleksander Mitrovic levelled six minutes from time.

Dortmund go into the last 16 for the third successive time as group winners, finishing level on points with Arsenal.

Lukas Podoslki, in his first start this season for Arsenal, needed just three minutes to find the net for the Gunners in Istanbul.

The German international struck the roof of the net with a powerful angled left-foot shot to set Arsenal up for a comfortable victory.

Podolski also hammered a shot against the bar and Aaron Ramsey scored twice - the second a 30-metre thunderbolt - as Arsenal scored three goals in the first half hour.

Wesley Schneider pulled one back with a free-kick in the 88th minute before Podolski netted his second at the end.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told Sky Sports: "We won four games, lost one and had one draw. Looking back, we can maybe regret that point at home to Anderlecht.

"There's some great teams in the draw for the last 16 and we need to wait and see who we get."

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