TheSportsCampus

The four remaining spots in the Champions League knockout phase were filled on Wednesday night as day two of Matchday six brought the curtains down on the group stage. It was a disappointing day for English clubs as Manchester United and Manchester City crashed out, leaving Arsenal & Chelsea as the only two remaining English representatives. The teams that made it through were Basel, Napoli, Lyon and CSKA Moskva, with wildly swinging momentum the theme of the day. Starting with Group A where Man City actually defeated Bayern Munich 2-0 at the Etihad, but Napoli's 2-0 defeat of Villarreal gave the Italians 2nd spot behind Bayern.

While Man City's destiny was out of their hands, Man United merely needed a draw to secure passage into the next round, but they suffered a shock 2-1 loss at Basel and with Benfica defeating Otelul Galati 1-0, Basel & Benfica sealed the two qualification spots. There was nail-biting action in Group B as CSKA grabbed a late winner at the San Siro to beat Inter Milan 2-1 and seal 2nd spot ahead of Trabzonspor, who drew 0-0 with Lille. Finally, Group D witnessed a miracle of sorts after Lyon snatched 2nd spot from under Ajax's nose with a remarkable 7-1 thrashing of Dinamo Zagreb while the Dutch side lost 3-0 to Real Madrid.

Group A

Man City went into the day needing a victory against Bayern & hoping that Napoli lost at Villarreal. City did their part though as they beat a under-strength Bayern, with David Silva & Yaya Toure getting on the scoresheet. Silva got the opener in the 36th minute with a typical left-foot strike into the bottom corner. City were creating chances a-plenty and they got the 2nd goal seven minutes into the 2nd half as Toure collected Edin Dzeko's flick and prodded the ball into the back of the net. Over at El Madrigal, the scoreline was still 0-0 when City were 2-0 up as Napoli desperately went in search of a goal. The goal arrived on 65 minutes courtesy of Gokhan Inler's left-footed strike from 20 yards out. Marek Hamsik then clinched the game eleven minutes later with tap-in following a scramble. Bayern finished atop the group with 13 points, two ahead of 2nd placed Napoli and three ahead of City in 3rd, who now have the Europa League to look forward to.

Group B

CSKA went into the day sitting in 3rd place, needing three points from the San Siro and for Trabzonspor to draw at Lille. Amazingly the day paned out exactly as they hoped but not without late drama. CSKA took the lead in the 50th minute through Seydou Doumbia, who placed Vagner Love's cross into the bottom corner. But Inter hit-back a minute later through Esteban Cambiasso as the score line stood at 1-1. With the clock ticking, Alexei Berezutsky headed in Aleksandrs Cauna's corner to give the visitors the lead three minutes before time. Over in France, Lille had the better chances in a cautious game, with Franck Bera and Eden Hazard getting into promising positions. But the goal wasn't forthcoming as the game ended 0-0, sending both sides out of the competition. Trabzonspor grab the Europa League spot while Inter and CSKA finished as the top two.

Group C

The shock of the day came at the St.Jakob Park as Basel consigned Man United to only their 3rd group stage exit in 17 seasons. United had lost only one Champions League away game in over four years heading into the game, but the count rose to two following a night of despair. The game began disastrously for the visitors as a collision between Nemanja Vidic and Chris Smalling in the penalty box allowed Xherdan Shaqiri to square the ball, which David de Gea decided to clear with his feet and in the process only succeeded in turning it straight to Marco Strellar, who slotted the ball home for the lead 7 minutes in. United responded by creating numerous chances, but were let down by poor finishing, with Wayne Rooney in particular guilty of spurning numerous opportunities. The loss of Vidic through injury towards the end of the 1st half didn't help matters and as United went in search of the elusive goal, Alexander Frei made it 2-0 in the 84th minute. Phil Jones did get a goal back for United in the closing stages but the 2nd proved beyond them as Basel sealed the victory. The greatest night in club's history saw them clinch 2nd spot behind Benfica, who sealed top spot thanks to Oscar Cardozo's 7th minute goal in the 1-0 victory over Otelul. United now suffer the ignominy of experiencing Europa League action on Thursday nights while Benfica & Basel have the knockout draw to look forward to.

Group D

The statistics gods must have been smiling on Lyon last night after they produced an almost improbable victory to clinch 2nd spot. The French giants needed Ajax to lose against Madrid while they had to defeat Dinamo by a margin that would overturn the seven goal differential between themselves and Ajax. Madrid maintained their 100% record by beating Ajax 3-0 at Amsterdam Arena, with Jose Maria Callejon grabbing a brace with goals in the 14th and 90th minute while Gonzalo Higuain scored the other a few minutes before half-time as Jose Mourinho's decision to send out a 2nd string line up was clearly vindicated. But things weren't this straightforward in Zagreb where Dinamo took the lead in the 40th minute through Mateo Kovacic despite Jerko Leko being sent off on the half-hour mark after picking up two yellow cards. Lyon hit-back in some style though as they were 4-1 up by the 52nd minute, with Bafetimbi Gomis grabbing a hat-trick and Maxime Gonalons netting the other. Gomis' 4th was sandwiched between strikes from Lisandro Lopez & Jimmy Briand as the visitors completed a remarkable 7-1 victory. Lyon and Ajax were level on 8 points but the French side's marginally better goal difference saw them join Real Madrid in the next round while Ajax head to the Europa League.

Results:

Man City 2-0 Bayern Munich
Villarreal 0-2 Napoli
Basel 2-1 Man United
Benfica 1-0 Otelul
Inter Milan 1-2 CSKA
Lille 0-0 Trabzonspor
Dinamo Zagreb 1-7 Lyon
Ajax 0-3 Real Madrid

Group Winners: Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Benfica, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, Apoel, Barcelona

Group Runners-up: Napoli, CSKA Moskva, Basel, Lyon , Bayer Leverkusen, Marseille, Zenit St Petersburg, AC Milan

The draw for the last 16 will be held on 16/12/2011