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On a night that will be remembered for a refreshingly aggressive display from Bayern Munich that saw the German giants demolish Juventus in their own backyard, Michael Owen almost nicked the headlines from them with an outstanding hat-trick interestingly in Germany! CSKA Moscow also made it to the last 16, helped along the way by Manchester United's win over VFL Wolfsburg, while 16-time champions between them, Real Madrid and AC Milan, also cruised to the knockout stages riding on the back of a win and a draw respectively.

Juventus' meeting with Bayern Munich was easily the most awaited game of the night with one of the heavyweights sure to crash out of the tournament at the end of the day. Hosts Juventus had the option of repeating a draw the two sides played out when they last met in the tournament, while the German giants found themselves in a must-win situation. What this resulted in was a cracker of a game. While the Germans attacked from the word go with Ivica Olic and Bastian Schweinsteiger providing the edge, David Trezeguet opened the scoring for Juventus against the run of play, in the process scoring his first Champions League goal in two and half years.

The goal only seemed to fuel Bayern to attack more, and the relentless pressure paid off when Olic was fouled in the penalty area in the 30th minute. Goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt then stepped up to score past his opposite number to make it 1-1. Olic then became the star of the night for Bayern when he slotted home after Buffon had spilled a goal bound header from Martin Demichelis. Things went from bad to worse for Juventus as Bayern added two goals in the last seven minutes to complete the 4-1 rout. While Bayern joins Bordeaux in the next stage of the tournament, Juventus has to be content with playing the UEFA Europa League.

Bordeaux meanwhile wrapped up their campaign in style with a 1-0 win away at Maccabi Haifa. A 12th minute goal from Jussie was enough to condemn the hosts to their sixth defeat of the group stages which left them without any points on board.

In Group B, Manchester United shrugged off their defensive frailties as a sublime hat-trick from Michael Owen saw them trounce VfL Wolfsburg 3-1 at the Volkswagen Arena. With CSKA Moscow also winning away (2-1) at Besiktas, this meant curtains for Wolfsburg. Though Edin Dzeko's 56th minute equalizer gave the hosts some hope, Owen came back with two quick goals in the dying minutes to pack off the Germans to the Europa League.

CSKA Moscow on the other hand carved out a memorable result thanks to a 90th minute winner from Yevgeny Aldonin which pushed them through to the knock out stages as runners up to Manchester United.

Group C provided a murky picture at the start of the day with all three of Real Madrid, AC Milan and Marseille vying for the top two spots. Milan Gajic stunned AC Milan with a rasping free kick in the 29th minute to put FC Zurich in the lead and with Marseille keeping scores level at the Stade Velodrome, things looked shaky for the Italians. The second half saw things change as Milan clawed their way back into contention with Ronaldinho converting a penalty while Marseille fell behind as Raul Albiol and Cristiano Ronaldo scored to give Real Madrid a 3-1 win. With the draw taking Milan through, Marseille will head for the Europa League.

With Chelsea and Porto already through to the knockout stages, the only point of interest in Group D was third spot. APOEL Nicosia stunned the home supporters at Stamford Bridge when Marcin Zewlakow scored as early as the sixth minute to give the Cypriots an unexpected lead. With Porto racing to a two-goal lead inside 14 minutes at the Vicente Calderon, Nicosia looked set to pip Atletico Madrid to third place before Chelsea hit back with two goals in 7 minutes, through Michael Essien and Didier Drogba. Though the Cypriots got a late equalizer through Nenad Mirosavljevic, Atletico Madrid still managed a back door entry to the UEFA Europa League having scored an away goal in their 1-1 draw at the Neo GSP Stadium on 25th November, after their first clash at the Vicente Calderon had ended goalless.

With almost all the fancied teams barring Juventus in the four groups (A to D) making it to the knockout stages one would expect an intensely competitive round of games when the competition resumes with the round of 16 in February 2010.

Tuesday's Scores:

Group A
Maccabi Haifa 0-1 Bordeaux
Juventus 1-4 Bayern Munich

Points: Bordeaux: 16, Bayern Munich: 10, Juventus: 8, Maccabi Haifa: 0

Group B
Besiktas 1-2 CSKA Moscow
VFL Wolfsburg 1-3 Manchester United

Points: Manchester United: 13, CSKA Moscow: 10, VFL Wolfsburg: 7, Besiktas: 4

Group C
FC Zurich 1-1 AC Milan
Marseille 1-3 Real Madrid

Points: Real Madrid: 13, AC Milan: 9, Marseille: 7, FC Zurich: 4

Group D
Atletico Madrid 0-3 FC Porto
Chelsea 2-2 Apoel Nicosia

Points: Chelsea: 14, FC Porto: 12, Atletico Madrid: 3, Apoel Nicosia: 3

File Photograph Copyright: James Adams