/ 2 November 2006

Lyon, Madrid advance in Europe

Lyon and Real Madrid made it to the second round of the Champions League with 1-0 wins on Wednesday while Kaka's hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Anderlecht put AC Milan within a point of the knockout phase. Lyon edged Dynamo Kiev, and Real Madrid needed an own-goal against visiting Steaua Bucharest for their 1-0 victories in Group E.

Lyon and Real Madrid made it to the second round of the Champions League with 1-0 wins on Wednesday while Kaka’s hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Anderlecht put AC Milan within a point of the knockout phase.

Lyon edged Dynamo Kiev, and Real Madrid needed an own-goal against visiting Steaua Bucharest for their 1-0 victories in Group E.

Lyon and nine-time champions Madrid joined Bayern Munich, Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven and Valencia in the last 16 with two more games to go.

Karim Benzema scored the winning goal in the 14th minute to keep Lyon in first place in the group, the only team in the competition with the maximum 12 points from four games.

It was not so easy for Madrid, however. Ruud van Nistelrooy missed a penalty, and Steaua provided the only goal in the 70th when a back pass from Benal Nicolita found goalkeeper Cornel Cernea out of position and rolled into the net.

Madrid have nine points, while Steaua have three and Dynamo none.

Kaka scored Milan’s first three goals and Alberto Gilardino added the other in the 88th at San Siro. Roland Juhasz scored in the 61st for Anderlecht, who still has a chance to advance.

AEK Athens edged Lille 1-0, with Nikos Lymberopolous scoring in the 74th. Milan now have 10 points, followed by Lille with five, AEK with four and Anderlecht with two.

Manchester United and Arsenal both unexpectedly dropped points and still haven’t qualified for the second round.

United, who won their first three matches, lost 1-0 at FC Copenhagen with Marcus Allback scoring in the 73rd. Celtic were outplayed 3-0 by Benfica — the opposite of their meeting in Glasgow two weeks ago.

A 14th-minute own-goal by Gary Caldwell and goals by Nuno Gomes and Andrei Karyaka gave Benfica a comfortable victory. The results mean that both Benfica and Copenhagen are back in contention for places in the next round.

United remain in first place with nine points, while Celtic have six and Benfica and Copenhagen have four each.

Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Tomasz Rosicky all missed close-range chances in Arsenal’s 0-0 draw against Group G leaders CSKA Moscow. The result means three clubs are in contention for the two qualifying spots for the second round.

CSKA still lead the group with eight points, while Arsenal and third-place FC Porto have seven each.

Porto beat last-place Hamburg 3-1 with goals by Lucho Gonzalez, Lisandro Lopez and Buno Moraes. Netherlands midfielder Rafael van der Vaart replied for Hamburg, who are in last place with zero points. — Sapa-AP