CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WRAP: Chelsea and Marseille produce required results to progress

Chelsea and Marseille have both produced the results they required to get through to the Champions League Round of 16 tonight.

Chelsea defeated Valencia 3-0 to finish top of Group E, becoming the second English team through to the knockout stages behind Arsenal. Didier Drogba scored the club’s fastest-ever Champions League goal inside three minutes before adding his second later after Ramires put the Blues 2-0 ahead inside 25 minutes.
In the other Group E game, Genk couldn’t hold onto their early lead for a first Champions League win as Bayer Leverkusen equalised with just over 10 minutes remaining to retain second spot and join the Blues in the next stage as Valencia go into the Europa League.

Arsenal lost 3-1 to Olympiakos in Greece but had already won Group F with Arsene Wenger making nine changes to the side that won 4-0 at Wigan Athletic on the weekend.
Marseille left it late to come back from two goals down in dramatic style to beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2 to assure themselves a path into the Round of 16 with Olympiakos dropping to the Europa.

In Group G, Zenit St Petersburg got through to the final16 for the first time in their history despite a scoreless draw with FC Porto as APOEL Nicosia won the group even though they lost 2-0 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk. Reigning Europa League champions Porto will now get the chance to defend their title in Europe’s second tier competition.

And finally, Barcelona produced the 150th win for manager Pep Guardiola with a 4-0 home result over bottom-placed BATE Borisov. Sergi Roberto scored his first senior goal with debutant Martin Montoya also hitting the target for a first time as Guardiola rung 10 changes to the side that hammered Levante on the weekend.
AC Milan gave up a two-goal lead to be held 2-2 by Viktoria Plzen but they finished well clear in second spot to go through with Barcelona who equaled Manchester United’s record of 20 group stage goals.

2011/12 Champions League scores – match-day 6

Group E

Chelsea (ENG): 3 (Didier Drogba 3’/76’, Ramires 22’)
Valencia (ESP): 0
Stamford Bridge, Southwest London

Genk (BEL): 1 (Jelle Vossen 30’)
Bayer Leverkusen (GER): 1 (Ered Derdiyok 79’)
Cristal Arena, Genk

Group F

Olympiakos (GRE): 3 (Rafik Djebbour 16’, David Fuster 36’, Francois Modesto 88’)
Arsenal (ENG): 1 (Yossi Benayoun 57’)
Karaiskaki Stadium, Athens

Borussia Dortmund (GER): 2 (Jakub Blaszczykowski 23’, Mat Hummels (p) 32’)
Marseille (FRA): 3 (Loic Remy 45’, Andre Ayew 85’. Mathieu Valbuena 87’)
Signal-Iduna Park, Dortmund

Group G

FC Porto (POR): 0
Zenit St Petersburg (RUS): 0
Eastadio do Dragao, Porto

APOEL Nicosia (CYP): 0
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR): 2 (Luiz Adriano 62’, Evgen Seleznev 78’)
Neo GSP Stadium, Strovolos

Group H

Barcelona (ESP): 4 (Sergi Roberto 35’, Martin Montoya 60’, Pedro 63’/(p) 89’)
BATE Borisov (BLR): 0
Nou Camp, Barcelona

Viktoria Plzen (CZE): 2 (David Bystron 89’, Michal Duris 90’)
AC Milan (ITA): 2 (Alexandre Pato 47’, Robinho 48’)
Synot Tip Arena, Prague