Bayern, Chelsea win in Champions League, Marseille hit seven

BERLIN - Bayern Munich and Chelsea both booked their places in the knockout phases of the Champions League football with victories but the result of the night was in Slovakia as Olympique Marseille put seven goals past hapless MSK Zilina.

Real Madrid looked to have also assured themselves of a place in the next phase when Gonzalo Higuain put them ahead against AC Milan but a brace from veteran Filippo Inzaghi put them on the back foot before Pedro Leon secured a 2-2 draw for the Whites in injury-time.

Arsenal will also have to wait to after going down 2-1 away to Shakhtar Donetsk.

Last year’s beaten finalists Bayern Munich eased into the knockout stages with a comfortable 4-0 victory away to Romanian side CFR Cluj here Wednesday night.

Mario Gomez netted a hat-trick and Thomas Mueller added a fourth to assure the German champions of one of the qualifying spots from Group E with a maximum 12 points from four games.

Germany striker Gomez opened the scoring in the 12th minutes for Louis van Gaal’s side with an unstoppable shot that went in off the underside of the crossbar after Andreas Ottl saw his effort saved by Eduard Stancioiu.

Gomez netted Bayern’s second in the 24th minute after Bastian Schweinsteiger headed Hamit Altintop’s cross into his path and he completed his hat-trick 19 minutes from time after a perfectly weighted Schweinsteiger pass helped him spring Cluj’s offside trap.

World Cup Golden Boot winner Mueller completed the rout in the final minute as Bayern became the first German team to win their opening four group games in the Champions League.

AS Roma, who face Bayern in their next group game, sit second on six points after winning 3-2 away to Swiss side Basel.

Jeremy Menez put the Italians ahead after 16 minutes and Francesco Totti looked to have secured the win nine minutes later when making it 2-0 from the penalty spot.

However in a frantic finale, Alexander Frei reduced the deficit with a header 21 minutes from time. Leandro Greco restored Roma’s two-goal cushion in the 76th minute but Xherdan Shaqiri pulled the score back to 3-2 seven minutes from time to ensure a nervous ending for the Serie A side, who now sit second in the group on six points thanks to the win.

Chelsea are guaranteed qualification from Group F after a strong second-half goal performance saw them cruise to a 4-1 win over Spartak Moscow.

The sides went in level at the break but there was only going to be one winner once Nicolas Anelka opened the scoring four minutes after the restart after a neat exchange with Salomon Kalou.

Didier Drogba made it 2-0 to the English champions from the penalty spot after the Ivorian striker was fouled by Evgeni Makeev in the box with Branislav Ivanovic ending the match as a contest with an unstoppable header midway through the second half.

Nikita Bazhenov scored a late consolation for Spartak but there was still time for Ivanovic to net his second of the evening to make it 4-1.

Marseille remain firmly in contention for the second qualifying spot after a 7-0 demolition of Slovak side MSK Zilina.

Andre Pierre Gignac netted a hat-trick for Marseille, Lucho Gonzalez scored a brace while Gabriel Heinze and Loic Remy also got on the scoresheet for the French side.

The result is only one goal short of the Champions League record under its current format of 8-0 set by four clubs: Liverpool, Kosice, Partizan and Dynamo Kiev.

Chelsea top the group with 12 points, six clear of Spartak and Marseille, who meet in the Russian capital in their next match.

Arsenal’s hopes of securing top spot in Group H took a knock as they went down 2-1 to Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk to leave both sides tied at the top on nine points.

The visitors got off to the perfect start when Theo Walcott fired home from 20 metres after just 10 minutes. However, the sides were level 18 minutes later when Dmytro Chygrynski’s goal-bound header came off the head of Craig Eastmond and flew into the Arsenal net.

Former Gunners striker Eduardo then put Shakhtar ahead just before half-time with a cool finish after latching on to a cross from Darijo Srna.

In the other group game Partizan Belgrade beat Sporting Braga 1-0 courtesy of a Moises header to leave both sides on three points.