Chelsea's Fernando Torres reacts during their Champions
League match against FC Nordsjaelland at Stamford Bridge in
London. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
Chelsea have become the first Champions League holders to
exit at the group stage after a 6-1 rout of Nordsjaelland
proved irrelevant with Juventus reaching the last 16 thanks to
a 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk.
A second-half own goal was enough for Juve to secure top spot
in Group E and progress alongside Shakhtar, while Chelsea,
winning for the first time under interim manager Rafael
Benitez, are heading into the Europa League.
Galatasaray and Celtic claimed the other two knockout stage
places decided in the final round of group matches.
Fernando Torres scored twice for Chelsea in an entertaining
Stamford Bridge clash that featured three penalties, all
awarded for handball and two of which were saved, in six
first-half minutes.
Chelsea needed to win and hope Juventus lost, but the
Italians ended Shakhtar's long unbeaten home run with
Olexandr Kucher putting through his own net for the only goal
on 56 minutes.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi was stretchered off with what
appeared to be a serious knee injury near the end of the
Group G winners' 0-0 draw at home to Benfica.
The Argentine World Player of the Year collapsed to the
ground clutching his left knee after colliding with Benfica
goalkeeper Artur.
Benfica were beaten to a knockout stage place by Celtic who
beat Spartak Moscow 2-1 in Glasgow to finish two points ahead
of the Lisbon club.
A penalty nine minutes from the end by Kris Commons put
Celtic through to the last 16 for the first time since the
2007-08 season.
Second-half goals from Burak Yilmaz and Aydin Yilmaz helped
Galatasaray come from behind to win 2-1 at Braga and go
through as Group H runners-up behind Manchester United.
The Turkish side denied Romania's CFR Cluj, whose consolation
for an upset 1-0 victory over former champions United at Old
Trafford, is a Europa League place.
Last season's beaten finalists Bayern Munich finished top of
Group F after a 4-1 rout of BATE Borisov, finishing level on
points with Valencia but with a better head-to-head record
against the Spaniards who beat Lille 1-0 in France
Xherdan Shaqiri scored one and set up another for Bayern, who
exacted revenge for a shock defeat in the reverse fixture in
Belarus.
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