Champions League round-up......02/11/2005

TheDogsNutts

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Arsenal booked their ticket to the knockout stages with a 3-0 win over Sparta Prague, while Manchester United's season lurched further into crisis with defeat at Lille.
The Gunners have made hay in the UEFA Champions League this term and a fine goal from Thierry Henry and two late strikes from Robin van Persie brushed aside a disappointing Sparta side.
The win stretches Arsenal's perfect record in Europe to four games and will allow Arsene Wenger the luxury of resting his big players for the final two group games.
The Red Devils, though, will have to pull their socks up in their final two games if they are to avoid elimination from the competition.
Sir Alex Ferguson had demanded a response following the defeat to Middlesbrough, but he only ended up with another defeat to chew over as Milenko Acimovic's first-half goal handed Lille the win in the Stade de France.
United find themselves third in Group D as Villarreal went from third to first thanks to a 1-0 win at Benfica. Marcos Senna netting the winner eight minutes from time.
Ajax are favourites to join Arsenal in the knockout phase as they scored twice in injury time to stun FC Thun 4-2.
The Dutch side could have been on the end of a beating, but they hung on and stunned the Swiss side in stoppage time. Ajax twice led through Wesley Sneijder and an own goal from Armand Deumi, but Thun replied through Mauro Lustrinelli and Adriano Pimenta.
Thun dominated the final 15 minutes, but squandered a host of chances and were made to pay as Nigel de Jong and Nourdin Boukhari netted in injury time to claim an unlikely win for Ajax.
Barcelona took a massive step towards the knockout stages with a 5-0 demolition of Panathinaikos.
The Greeks are notoriously poor travellers and Barca put them to the sword at Camp Nou.
Mark van Bommel added to his goal at the weekend with the opener inside 60 seconds, while further goals from Samuel Eto'o (2) and Lionel Messi before the break took the contest beyond Pana.
Eto'o saved the best goal of the night for his hat-trick effort, as he curled home from 25 yards to stamp Barca's authority on Group C.
Werder Bremen revived their hopes of qualifying, but they were made to work hard for a 4-3 win over Udinese.
The Germans were cruising just after the break as goals from Miroslav Klose, Frank Baumann and Johan Micoud had them comfortably in the ascendancy.
Udinese fought back to level through a brace from Antonio Di Natale and own goal from Christian Schulz.
The stuffing was knocked out of the Italians when Micoud grabbed his second and they wilted after Giampiero Pinzi was dismissed 20 minutes from time.
Juventus turned around form with Bayern Munich by claiming a 2-1 win in Turin.
Bayern won the reverse fixture a fortnight ago, but they were undone by a brace from David Trezeguet. Sebastien Deisler was the scorer for Bayern.
A sting in the tail for Juve was the dismissal of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in stoppage time.
Group A would appear to lie between Juve and Bayern, with the pair locked together on nine points.
Club Brugge fought back from a goal down to beat Rapid Vienna 3-2, a result which keeps them in the hunt to qualify from Group A.
Rapid led inside 60 seconds through Marek Kinkl, but Javier Portillo and Bosko Balaban turned the game on its head.
Gert Verheyen added a third for Brugge and they held on despite Marcin Adamski scoring for Rapid ten minutes from time.
Brugge have six points, while Rapid remain pointless and out of the running.
Group A
Club Brugge 3-2 Rapid Vienna
Juventus 2-1 Bayern Munich
Group B
Arsenal 3-0 Sparta Prague
Thun 2-4 Ajax
Group C
Barcelona 5-0 Panathinaikos
Werder Bremen 4-3 Udinese
Group D
Benfica 0-1 Villarreal
Lille 1-0 Manchester United
 
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