LONDON — Defending champion Manchester United, Bayern Munich, FC Porto and Juventus finished on top of their Champions League groups on Wednesday.
Wayne Rooney’s second half strike salvaged a draw for Man United which trailed to Aalborg at Old Trafford and made sure the Red Devils finished a point clear of Villarreal, which went down 2-0 at last place Celtic in Group E.
“Every game at home we try to win, especially after taking the lead so early, so we are disappointed not to get three points,” Rooney said. “Possibly the tempo of our game was not quick enough in the first half and to concede two sloppy goals, we are really disappointed with that, but we still finished top of the group.”
Raul Gonzalez scored twice to lead Madrid to its 3-0 victory over Zenit St. Petersburg and become the all-time top scorer in European club competitions with 66 goals. Although Juventus and Madrid finished with 12 points each, Juventus finished top because of its two victories over the Spanish club.
It was Madrid’s first game with Juande Ramos in charge. The former Sevilla and Tottenham coach took over after Bernd Schuster was fired on Tuesday.
“The most positive thing is the clear and dominating victory,” Ramos said. “The best thing is that we have gained some confidence in ourselves which will help against Barcelona (on Saturday).”
Both Porto and Arsenal had already qualified but goals by Bruno Alves and Lisandro Lopez gave the Portuguese club, a two-time Champions League winner, top place even though it lost 4-0 at Arsenal on Sept. 30.
With the 16 qualifiers already known before Wednesday, the only issues left on the final day of group play were who finished top and which eliminated clubs had the consolation of playing in the next round of the UEFA Cup.
The other four group winners going into the Dec. 19 draw are: AS Roma, Panathinaikos, Barcelona and Liverpool.
The eight runners up are: Chelsea, Inter Milan, Sporting Lisbon, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Lyon, Arsenal and Madrid.
The eight third-place teams which drop into the UEFA Cup are: Bordeaux, Werder Bremen, Shakhtar Donetsk, Marseille, Aalborg, Fiorentina, Dynamo Kiev and defending champion Zenit St. Peterburg.
Because of competition rules, group winners can’t face each other and neither can teams from the same group or same countries.
But it still means that the Dec. 19 draw could produce eye-catching matchups such as Manchester United-Real Madrid, Barcelona-Chelsea, Liverpool-Inter Milan, Bayern Munich-Arsenal, Juventus-Lyon.
On Wednesday, Dynamo Kiev edged Fenerbahce 1-0 in Group G, Fiorentina won 1-0 at Steaua Bucharest in Group F, Aalborg had already made it from Group E, and Dynamo Kiev beat Fenerbahce 1-0 in Group G.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
