Seven teams reached the 32-team knockout stage of the UEFA Cup on Thursday.
Monaco, Hamburg and Slavia Prague clinched the three berths in Group A. Palermo and Espanyol picked up the remaining places in Group B, with Lens and Hertha Berlin going through in Group C.
Monaco defeated CSKA Sofia 2-1, and Hamburg beat Slavia Prague 2-0 for both winners to finish atop Group A with nine points. But Monaco earned first place on goal difference.
Despite the loss, Slavia claimed the final spot from Group A. Slavia finished with only four points -- the same as Norway club Viking -- but also had a better goal difference.
Palermo defeated Brondby 3-0 to finish atop Group B with eight points. Espanyol defeated Maccabi Petach-Tikva 1-0 and finished second, also with eight points. Lokomotiv Moscow did not play but had already advanced with seven points.
In Group C, Lens defeated Sampdoria 2-1 to claim one spot with seven points. In the other game, Steaua Bucharest drew 0-0 at Hertha Berlin. Steaua had already advanced, finishing on top with eight points. The draw gave Hertha six points, yielding third place ahead of Sampdoria with five.
All three places in Group D were already decided with Middlesbrough, AZ Alkmaar and Litex Lovech advancing. In Thursday's games, AZ defeated Grasshoppers 1-0, and Middlesbrough beat Litex 2-0.
Strasbourg, AS Roma, FC Basel, Marseille, Levski Sofia, SC Heerenveen, Rapid Bucharest, Shakhtar Donetsk, Stuttgart, Sevilla, Zenit St. Petersburg, and Bolton have already advanced.
The eight third-place teams from the Champions League will also play in the next round: FC Brugge, FC Thun, Udinese, Lille, Schalke, Rosenborg, Real Betis and Artmedia Bratislava.
knockout round draw
The draw for the final 32 of the UEFA Cup and the final 16 of the Champions League was to held yesterday at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
Olivier Kapo gave Monaco a 1-0 lead in the 50th and Sebastien Squillaci made it 2-0 in the 75th. Velizar Dimitrov scored in the 84th for CSKA.
Hamburg went ahead on a ninth-minute header by Sergej Barbarez, and made it 2-0 in the 57th when striker Emile Mpenza beat Slavia goalkeeper Aleksandar Seliga.
Leandro Rinaduo scored twice and Stephen Makinwa netted in Palermo's 3-0 victory. In Espanyol's 1-0 victory, Argentine defender Mauricio Pochettino's 83rd-minute goal was the difference against Maccabi Petach-Tikva.
Olivier Thomert and Issam Jomaa scored in Lens' 2-1 victory over Sampdoria.
Francesco Flachi scored for the Italians.
Massimo Maccarone claimed both of Middlesbrough's two goals, and Danny Koevermans scored in AZ Alkmaar's victory.
This is how desperate rivals managers are about stopping Chelsea from running away with another Premier League title: Manchester United's Alex Ferguson will be cheering for Arsenal this weekend.
The Gunners are way off the pace -- 17 points behind Chelsea in sixth place -- after losing their second straight game and fifth this season.
But recent form is likely to be overtaken by traditional rivalry when the Blues travel across London to Highbury tomorrow.
"It is a must-win game at the moment," Arsenal midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg said. "It is at home and we want to win at home and it is against Chelsea which we always want to win."
Manchester United ended a bad spell -- including an unexpected early exit from the Champions League group stage -- by beating Wigan 4-0 on Wednesday night. Manchester United is now nine points behind Chelsea.
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