The Barcelona captain Carles Puyol tackles Basel's Carlitos.
The Barcelona captain Carles Puyol tackles Basel's Carlitos.
The Barcelona captain Carles Puyol tackles Basel's Carlitos.
The Barcelona captain Carles Puyol tackles Basel's Carlitos.

Barca and Sporting march on


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BRUSSELS // Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon booked their spots in the Champions League knockout stages while Inter Milan missed out on the chance to guarantee their place last night. A 1-1 draw at home to Basel was enough for Barca to qualify from Group C alongside Portugal's Sporting, who beat Shakhtar Donetsk of the Ukraine 1-0 thanks to the Brazilian striker Derlei's 73rd minute strike. Serie A champions Inter needed an 80th minute header from the Argentine striker Julio Cruz to salvage a 3-3 draw in Cyprus against a resilient Anorthosis Famagusta.

Inter's draw, combined with Panathinaikos's 3-0 win at Werder Bremen, left Group B wide open with two matches to go. The Italians are top on eight points from four games, Anorthosis have five, Panathinaikos four and Werder three. Group A has a similarly tight look to it with Chelsea on seven, one point more than Roma and Girondins Bordeaux who beat CFR Cluj 2-1. The Romanians are nevertheless still in contention with four points.

In Group D Marseille beat PSV Eindhoven 3-0 thanks to goals from Bakari Kone and Mamadou Niang (2) to secure their first points in this year's competition. *Reuters

Anorthosis Famagusta 3 Inter Milan 3 Barcelona 1 Basel 1 CFR Cluj 1 Bordeaux 2 Liverpool 1 Atletico Madrid 1 Marseille 3 PSV Eindhoven 0 Roma 3 Chelsea 1 Sporting Lisbon 1 Shakhtar Donetsk 0 Werder Bremen 0 Panathinaikos 3