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UEFA Champions League traditionally played the last group stage matches on Wednesday of this week. 16 strongest clubs from groups E-H met in eight European stadiums.
One of the most interesting matches took place in Dortmund, where the local "Borussia" clashed for the second time in a row with London's "Arsenal". This time Jurgen Klopp's team failed to win and lost by a narrow margin to the "Gunners".
After attacking for a long time, the hosts tried to beat the Polish goalkeeper several times, but he demonstrated great play and no goals were scored in the first half.
In the remaining 45 minutes, "Arsenal" took the initiative and in the 62nd minute Aaron Ramsey scored the winning goal, sending the ball into the net with a header after a confusion in the penalty area.
Also, in the so-called "group of death", "Napoli" secured a narrow victory with a score of 3-2 against "Marseille", breaking their resistance.
The winners were Gokhan Inler and Gonzalo Higuain with two goals. The visitors' team scored consolation goals through Andre Ayew and Florian Thauvin.
After these victories, the "Napoli" and "Arsenal" clubs have both collected 9 points. Three points behind them so far are last season's Champions League finalists "Borussia" and Marseille, who still have no points.
Two teams from Spain - "Barcelona" and Madrid's "Atletico" secured their places in the quarterfinals. The latter confidently remained in first place in Group G with two more matches left until the end of this stage.
At Camp Nou stadium this time the Catalan team managed to win. Gerardo Martino's team punished "Milan" with a score of 3-1.
In the controversial match, where the referee possibly made questionable decisions, Lionel Messi was unstoppable and scored a brace, while Sergio Busquets also scored a goal.
Jose Mourinho's London "Chelsea" also approached the next stage, crushing "Schalke" in their fortress. Demba Ba and Samuel Eto'o secured three points for the "Blues", with Eto'o scoring twice.
In the other matches, Amsterdam's "Ajax" narrowly defeated Glasgow's "Celtic", while the match between "Basel" and Bucharest's "Steaua" ended in a draw, 1-1.
All Results:
"Zenit" 1 - 1 "Porto" 23‘ [0 - 1] L.Gonzalez 28‘ [1 - 1] Hulk 51‘ Hulk ("Zenit") missed a penalty kick
"Ajax" 1 - 0 "Celtic" 51‘ [1 - 0] L.Schone
"Atletico Madrid" 4 - 0 "Austria" 11‘ [1 - 0] Miranda 25‘ [2 - 0] D.Costa 45‘ [3 - 0] Filipe 82‘ [4 - 0] D.Costa 75‘ D.Costa ("Atletico Madrid") missed a penalty kick
"Barcelona" 3 - 1 "Milan" 30‘ [1 - 0] L.Messi (penalty kick) 40‘ [2 - 0] S.Busquets 45‘ [2 - 1] G.Pique (own goal) 83‘ [3 - 1] L.Messi
"Basel" 1 - 1 "Steaua" 17‘ [0 - 1] F.Piovaccari 90‘ [1 - 1] G.Sio
"Chelsea" 3 - 0 "Schalke" 31‘ [1 - 0] S.Eto‘o 54‘ [2 - 0] S.Eto‘o 83‘ [3 - 0] D.Ba
"Borussia" 0 - 1 "Arsenal" 62‘ [0 - 1] A.Ramsey
"Napoli" 3 - 2 "Marseille" 10‘ [0 - 1] A.Ayew 22‘ [1 - 1] G.Inler 24‘ [2 - 1] G.Higuain 64‘ [2 - 2] F.Thauvin 75‘ [3 - 2] G.Higuain
[link="http://www.flashscore.com/standings/Qm4xP15f/6gkWAkp0/#table;overall"]TOURNAMENT TABLE[/link]
