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Nearly six months after four dozen or so hope-filled teams set out on the European Champions League trail, the final 16 survivors have been confirmed.
England’s Arsenal and Italy’s AS Roma on Wednesday secured their places in the knockout rounds with a victory and a draw respectively, in London and in the somewhat less salubrious surrounds of Cluj-Napoca in northwest Romania.
Also advancing to the money-spinning next round was Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine, who scored a 2-0 home win over Braga of Portugal to finish atop Group H.
Arsenal, leading the English Premier League but showing signs of nerves, struggled for more than an hour to break down a determined Partizan Belgrade team from Serbia in front of 58,845 at the Emirates Stadium.
Eventually, sour-faced Gunners coach Arsene Wenger sent speedy England winger Theo Walcott on in place of out-of-sorts Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin and that unlocked the door as Arsenal won 3-1 to grab second place in Group H.
The Champions League final is in London on May 28, and two other English teams in the last 16, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, won their respective groups.
Arsenal, on the other hand, made difficult going of it after a fast start to the group phase. It had lost its previous two games on the road and its game against Partizan was locked at 1-1 going into the final 20 minutes.
“Football is mysterious sometimes,” Wenger said after late goals by Walcott and Samir Nasri saved Gunners.
In scenic Cluj-Napoca, AS Roma managed no better than a 1-1 draw against the local team, CFR Cluj, but that was enough to send Francesco Totti and his teammates through as the second-placed team in Group E.
The group was won by Germany’s Bayern Munich, who rounded out its group phase campaign on Wednesday with a 3-0 victory over Switzerland’s FC Basel in Munich thanks to two goals from French winger Franck Ribery.
The other four games on Wednesday had no bearing on the final 16, but did produce one or two surprises.
Nine-time champion Real Madrid defeated Auxerre of France 4-0 in Spain, with French striker Karim Benzema netting a first-half hat-trick as the Spanish team easily won Group G. But seven-time champion AC Milan, who finished second, lost 2-0 to Ajax Amsterdam in Holland.
Group F had no change in the top two, although Chelsea, the winner, had its unbeaten record come to an end on the road at second-placed Olympique Marseille, with Brazilian forward Brandao’s late goal sealing a 1-0 win.
In the other Group F game, Spartak Moscow rallied to defeat Zilina 2-1 in Slovakia. Both teams already had been eliminated.
The knockout stages guarantee some spectacular games, with no fewer than seven former winners in the field, including reigning champion Inter Milan.
Real Madrid, with a 5-0-1 record, along with Barcelona and Manchester United, each at 4-0-2, were the only teams to come through the group phase unbeaten.
Arsenal and Tottenham, with 18 goals each, were the top offensive teams in the group phase. Manchester United, which gave up only one goal, and Real Madrid, which gave up two, were the defensive leaders.
Remaining 16 teams in the European Champions League which resumes its knockout stage on February 15:
England: Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Spain: Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia.
Italy: AS Roma, AC Milan and Inter Milan.
Germany: Bayern Munich and Schalke ’04.
France: Olympique Marseille and Olympique Lyon.
Denmark: FC Copenhagen.
Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk.
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