/ 3 November 2005

Arsenal advance in Champions League

Arsenal advanced to the knockout stage of the Champions League on Wednesday, while Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona will have to wait.

Robin van Persie scored twice and Thierry Henry added another to lead Arsenal over visiting Sparta Prague 3-0 for their fourth straight win.

Bayern Munich lost at Juventus 2-1 in group A, with David Trezeguet scoring twice for the hosts.

Samuel Eto’o scored a hat trick for Barcelona in their 5-0 win over Panathinaikos at the Nou Camp, but didn’t advance because Werder Bremen beat Udinese 4-3 in the other group-C match.

In other results, it was: FC Brugge 3, Rapid Vienna 2 in group A; FC Thun 2, Ajax 4 in group B; Benfica 0, Villarreal 1; and Lille 1, Manchester United 0 in group D.

Henry, Arsenal’s record goal scorer, found the net twice at Sparta Prague two weeks ago and scored again against the Czechs in the 23rd minute at Highbury. Jose Antonio Reyes crossed for Henry to score from 25m.

Van Persie came on for Henry in the 66th minute and added goals in the 81st and 86th minutes.

Ajax beat Thun 4-2 in the other group-B match. Ajax have seven points, followed by Thun with three and Sparta with one.

Barcelona were a goal up within a minute when Mark van Bommel chipped the ball over advancing Panathinaikos goalkeeper Mario Galinovic to score into an empty net. Eto’o scored in the 14th, 40th and 65th minutes, while teenager Lionel Messi scored in the 34th.

Panathinaikos had held visiting Barcelona to a 0-0 draw two weeks ago.

In the other group-C match, Udinese rallied from 3-0 down to level 3-3 with Werder Bremen, but the German side won with Johan Micoud’s second goal.

Bremen had goals from Frank Baumann, Miroslav Klose and Micoud by the 51st minute. Udinese substitute Antonio di Natale scored twice in the three minutes before Christian Schulz scored an own-goal in the 60th to make it 3-3.

Barcelona have 10 points, with Udinese, Panathinaikos and Bremen all on four.

In group A, Juventus took a 1-0 lead in the 61st minute, but Sebastian Deisler leveled five minutes later. Trezeguet scored the winner with his second strike in the 85th.

Bosko Balaban scored one goal and set up two more for Brugge in their win over Rapid Vienna. Juve and Bayern have nine points, with Brugge on six and Rapid Vienna with none.

Manchester United have had a tough week. They lost 4-1 to Middlesbrough and then had injured captain Roy Keane widely criticise the team in an in-house television interview that was pulled before it could be broadcast.

On Wednesday, Wayne Rooney, back from a two-match suspension, had his cross intercepted by Gregory Tafforeau, who passed for Milenko Acimovic to score for Lille in the 38th minute.

Lille were playing in front of 66 470 people at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis — a crowd record for a French club at home in Europe — because their own stadium isn’t big enough for Champions League soccer. Lille normally draw 12 000 fans.

Villarreal won at Benfica with Marcos Senna’s 82nd-minute goal to take the lead of group D with six points. Lille and Manchester United have five points and Benfica have four.

On Tuesday, Real Madrid and Lyon advanced to the group stage with victories. Real Betis pulled off the shock of the night, upsetting Chelsea 1-0, the English champion’s first loss in the competition this season. Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Schalke and Inter Milan also won, with Artmedia Bratislava drawing 2-2 with Rangers.

The next rotation is on November 22 and 23, with the final group games played on December 6 and 7. — Sapa-AP