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Liverpool and Real Madrid secured berths in the Champions League last 16 with forceful wins in their final group matches yesterday.
Nine-times champions Real Madrid topped group C with a 3-1 win over Lazio while Liverpool, the winners of five titles, advanced from Group A with a 4-0
rout of Olympique Marseille.
Liverpool's third successive victory in Europe, after they picked up only one point from their opening three matches, sent the 2005 winners through with 2004 holders Porto, who secured top spot in the group with a 2-0 defeat of Besiktas.
Olympiakos Piraeus also reached the knockout phase by finishing second behind Real while Schalke 04 qualified as runners-up in Group B to Chelsea, who had already booked their place as group winners with a game to spare.
Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez attributed his team's victory on the French coast to a performance of the highest class.
"I'm proud to be the manager of this club," he said.
"The supporters were fantastic and the performance of the team was almost perfect."
Steven Gerrard blasted home the rebound from his penalty kick parried by goalkeeper Steve Mandanda and Fernando Torres scored after weaving his way past three defenders to give Liverpool a 2-0 lead in the opening 11 minutes.
Dirk Kuyt made it 3-0 with a clinical finish shortly after the break and substitute Ryan Babel finished off the French side after walking the ball into an empty net in injury time.
"The players showed determination going forward and played together as a compact unit," said Benitez, who now faces a meeting with the Premier League club's American owners over his comments last month about transfer policy.
"I was not thinking about my own situation, just about the match," he said.
Marseille suffered a third consecutive loss and their Uefa Cup spot, reserved for the eight third-placed teams, will be scant consolation for the 1993 European champions.
Real raced into an early 2-0 lead after Robinho set up Brazil strike partner Julio Baptista to drill in the opener and then swung in a corner for Raul to head home his 59th goal in Europe's premier club competition.
Robinho scored the third in the 36th minute from close range to help Real reach the last 16 for the 11th successive season. Goran Pandev pulled one back for the Italian side in the 80th minute.
Greek champions Olympiakos joined Real from Group C after two goals by Ieroklis Stoltidis either side of a Darko Kovacevic header gave them a 3-0 home win over Werder Bremen.
Chelsea, who had already sewn up Group B, drew 0-0 with eliminated Valencia at Stamford Bridge.
Their passage means all four Premier League teams in the competition, including Manchester United and Arsenal, have reached the last 16.
Schalke beat Rosenborg 3-1 at home to leapfrog the Norwegian side into second position in Group B thanks to goals from Gerald Asamoah, Rafinha and Kevin Kuranyi.
Crisp finishing by Asamoah and Rafinha gave Schalke a 2-0 lead in the opening 19 minutes and Germany striker Kuranyi secured Schalke's passage.
Holders AC Milan and Celtic advanced from group D in which the final matches were played last week because of Milan's commitments in Japan.
- REUTERS