Athens , December 10 : English giants Chelsea and Arsenal have both qualified for the last 16 stage of Cahmpions League . Arsenal rode on a hat-trick by Olivier Giroud to advance to the last 16 of the Champions League. They had to overturn a 3-2 deficit to secure their place in the next round and they did it in style. Giroud opened the scoring in Greece with a powerful header in the first half, doubled Arsenal’s advantage with a calm left-footed finish quickly after the restart and rounded off a superb individual display with a penalty.The victory completed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Arsenal who lost three of their first four games of the campaign and needed to win by any result other than 1-0 or 2-1 in their decisive group clash to finish second behind group winners Bayern Munich.
Another London based club Chelsea also sealed their berth in the last 16 . Jose Mourinho’s men defeated Porto 2-0. The Blues took the lead through an own goal by Ivan Marcano . Diego Costa’s shot got deflected by Marcano and went past the goalkeeper. Willian stretched the lead in the 52nd minutes as he unleashed a low shot that rocketed past Iker Casillas. Chelsea reached the top of Group G with 13 point . It would give a temporary relief to Jose Mourinho after a disastrous domestic season so far .
German side Bayer Leverkusen crashed out of the Champions League after a 1-1 draw with Barcelona in Group E.Lionel Messi opened the scoring with a trademark finish to score his 80th Champions League goal. Leverkusen quickly equalised through Chicharito who was in red hot form in the Bundesliga.
In form polish striker Robert Lewandowski netted a brace for Bayern Munich’s win against Dinamo Zagreb to secure their place in the next round of the Champions League. Thomas Mueller curled a cross towards Lewandowski and the polish headed home inside the box. He then doubled his strike three minutes later as he slotted the ball past Eduardo .
Roma played out a goalless draw to clinch a second place in the Group E. Ride Garcia’s side made a
progress to the next round for the first time since 2010/11. Roma finished level with the German side
Leverkusen but yet the Italian side advanced to the next round due to a better head to head record.
Former Manchester United footballer Gary Neville had a disastrous start to his Valencia debut as coach . The Spanish side lost 0-2 at the hand of Lyon . Maxwell corner gave an early lead to the French side. Alexandre Lacazette then doubled the lead with a sublime left foot finish to end Valencia’s dream of reaching the last 16 of Champions League . The Ukranian side Dynamo Kyiv are also through to the knock out stage thanks to a Denys Garmash’s first half goal against Maccabi Tel Aviv.Danijel Milicevic scored the winner for Gent against Zenit as both the team progressed to the next round.