The Hindu : Sport / Football : Man United, Bayern, Juventus win groups

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Man United, Bayern, Juventus win groups

Raul becomes the all- time top-scorer in European club competitions

LONDON: Defending champion Manchester United, Bayern Munich, FC Porto and Juventus finished at the top of their respective Champions League football groups on Wednesday, making them seeded teams for the knock-out round ahead of next week’s draw.

Manchester United drew with Aalborg 2-2 in Group ‘E,’ Bayern beat Lyon 3-2 in Group ‘F,’ Porto defeated Arsenal 2-0 in Group ‘G,’ and Juventus was held to a 0-0 draw by BATE Borisov in Group ‘H.’

Wayne Rooney’s second-half goal salvaged the draw for Manchester United, which trailed Aalborg at Old Trafford. But the one point made sure the Red Devils finished ahead of Villarreal, which lost to last-placed Celtic 2-0 in Group ‘E.’

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.

Winning debut

It was Madrid’s first game with Juande Ramos in charge, the former Sevilla and Tottenham coach taking over after Bernd Schuster was fired on Tuesday.

Although Juventus and Madrid finished with 12 points each, Juventus finished at the top because of its two victories over the Spanish club.

Miroslav Klose scored twice as Bayern raced into a 3-0 lead at Lyon, which replied through Sidney Govou and Karim Benzema.

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, first place even though it lost at Arsenal 4-0 on September 30.

With the 16 qualifiers already known before Wednesday, the only issues left on the final day of group play were who finished first in the groups 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 December 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.

Because of the 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 draw on December 19 could produce eye-catching match-ups such as Manchester United vs. Real Madrid or Barcelona vs. Chelsea.

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. Petersburg.

On Wednesday, Dynamo Kiev edged Fenerbahce 1-0 in Group ‘H’ and Fiorentina won at Steaua Bucharest 1-0 in Group ‘F.’ Aalborg had already made it from Group ‘E.’

Wednesday’s results: Group E: Manchester United 2 (Tevez 3, Rooney 52) drew with Aalborg 2 (Jakobsen 31, Curth 47); Celtic 2 (Maloney 14, McGeady 47) bt Villarreal 0.

Group F: Steaua Bucharest 0 lost to Fiorentina 1 (Gilardino 66); Lyon 2 (Govou 52, Benzema 68) lost to Bayern Munich 3 (Klose 12, 37, Ribery 34).

Group G: FC Porto 2 (Bruno Alves 38, Lisandro 54) bt Arsenal 0; Dynamo Kiev 1 (Eremenko 20) bt Fenerbahce 0.

Group H: Juventus 0 drew with BATE Borisov 0; Real Madrid 3 (Raul 25, 57, Robben 50) bt Zenit St. Petersburg 0. — Agencies

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