England and Spain had a good night in the Champions League on Tuesday as each country saw two sides progress to the knockout stages.
Titleholders Manchester United went through on the back of a 0-0 draw with Villarreal, who also qualified as Celtic’s dreadful away record continued with a 1-2 defeat against Danish side Aalborg.
Arsenal put their recent woes on and off the pitch behind them by going through after a 1-0 win at home to Ukrainian league leaders Dynamo Kiev, Nicklas Bendtner scoring the only goal.
PHOTO : AFP
FC Porto also progress courtesy of a 2-1 win against Fenerbahce in Istanbul.
Spanish giants Real Madrid ensured they reached the knockout stages by edging a 1-0 win against Belarusian side BATE Borisov — Raul’s goal putting him equal with Filippo Inzaghi as the competition’s all-time top scorer with 64 goals.
Also through are seven-time French champions Lyon — who beat Fiorentina 2-1 — and Bayern Munich, after they eased past Steaua Bucharest 3-0.
Zenit St Petersburg and Juventus played out a 0-0 draw in Russia.
United and Villarreal fought out a pretty sterile draw — the fourth time both sides have ended up 0-0 in the Champions League — but Sir Alex Ferguson was happy with the result even though his team had a one man advantage for the last eight minutes after Joan Capdevilla was sent-off.
“I thought we deserved better out of this match,” said the Scot, who has guided the team to two Champions League trophies in his time in charge.
“I was satisfied with the second-half performance and I felt that Villarreal were just happy to get the draw,” he said.
The Scot’s comments were backed up by Villarreal goalkeeper Diego Lopez.
“We wanted to qualify and the draw helps us do that so we have to be happy,” Lopez said.
“We played well and a big plus tonight was the defense,” he said.
Ferguson’s bitter rival Arsene Wenger looked a relieved man after his Arsenal team had ensured their place in the knockout stages after last week’s shenanigans had seen French defender William Gallas stripped of the captaincy for criticizing his team-mates and then a desperate 3-0 defeat to Manchester City.
Wenger praised both the new skipper Cesc Fabregas and Gallas, who even had the ball in the net at one point but it was ruled out for offside — Nicklas Bentdner ensured they took all three points with a late goal.
“Cesc was very good for me. He was focused for 90 minutes and worked hard defensively and offensively,” Wenger said. “It wasn’t easy in midfield. Overall he had a very good game.”
“William’s focus was great. He wanted to do well and you could see he was completely committed. I was very happy that the fans responded in a positive way to him,” he said.
However, Wenger said he hoped that this victory would prove pivotal to the Gunners season.
“It is the first step for us. What the team needs is reassurance and at least we have that now,” he said.
Wenger may have been having a hard time of it of late but nothing compared to Bernd Schuster at Real Madrid, so he too was happy to be sure of seeing the meringues in the next phase.
“It was really important to gain a place in the knockout phase today,” the German said.
“It could be difficult for us to play two important matches against Barcelona [in the Spanish league] and Zenit so closely in December,” he said. “And of course Juventus helped us a lot with their draw with Zenit.”
Bayern Munich coach Jurgen Klinsmann also has his problems as German international striker Lukas Podolski wants a move as he believes he is not getting the chances he deserves, but his international teammate Miroslav Klose was on form scoring twice and creating another.
“We are very, very happy,” said ex-Germany coach Klinsmann who is in his first season with the German giants.
“On the one hand, we are happy that we are through with a game left to play,” he said.
“And we are also happy, because the team is just getting better and better with each game,” Klinsmann said.
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