Soccer: Red faces as United stutter

Man United’s Wayne Rooney (left), and Rio Ferdinand walk off after their 1-0 loss to Lille. Picture / Reuters

Barcelona and Arsenal swaggered through to the last 16 of the Champions League but Manchester United's hopes hang in the balance after another demoralising defeat.

United's 1-0 loss to Lille in Paris intensified pressure on manager Alex Ferguson and threw group D wide open.

Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o hit a sparkling hat-trick in Barcelona's 5-0 thrashing of Panathinaikos which assured them of qualification from group C.

Dutchman Robin van Persie scored twice as Arsenal maintained their 100 per cent record in group B with a 3-0 home win over Sparta Prague but Bayern Munich's hopes of qualifying yesterday were dashed by a 2-1 loss at Juventus in Group A.

Olympique Lyon and nine-time winners Real Madrid had confirmed their places in the last 16 on Wednesday.

Manchester United are in danger of not reaching the knockout phase after their defeat, combined with Villarreal's win at Benfica, left all four teams still in contention.

Marcos Senna's long-range effort eight minutes from fulltime gave Villarreal, who visit Old Trafford next, a 1-0 win in Portugal and they top the group on six points, with Lille and United on five points and Benfica on four.

United arrived at the Stade de France, where Lille are playing their home matches due to ground work, still in shock after a 4-1 loss to Middlesbrough last weekend.

Lille profited after 38 minutes when former Tottenham midfielder Milenko Acimovic raced through United's defence to score.

Cristiano Ronaldo hit the bar for United in the second half but Lille could also have added to their tally and Ferguson has much to ponder before Monday's home match against English champions Chelsea.

In the Nou Camp, Barcelona scored in the opening minute and quickly swamped their Greek opponents. Dutchman Mark van Bommel lobbed them in front and Eto'o grabbed two either side of 18-year-old Lionel Messi's effort to make it 4-0 at halftime.

Eto'o completed his hat-trick just past the hour and, with 10 points from their four matches, Barcelona cannot fail to finish in the top two in their group. Among those are Werder Bremen, who produced an extraordinary 4-3 home win over Udinese. The Italians recovered from 3-0 down early in the second half to level at 3-3 with three goals in six minutes before Johan Micoud's second clinched it for the Germans.

At Highbury, Van Persie added two well-taken goals to Thierry Henry's majestic opener midway through the first half.

Arsenal have a maximum 12 points, five more than Ajax, whose 4-2 win at Swiss side Thun came with stoppage-time goals by Nigel de Jong and Nourdin Boukhari.

David Trezeguet's double earned Juventus revenge for their defeat at Bayern by the same score a fortnight ago. The French striker's goals came either side of a Sebastian Deisler goal for Bayern, lifting Juventus to the top of the group. Juve striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off in the last minute.

Bruges remain in contention on six points after a 3-2 home win over Rapid Vienna, who had taken the lead with a goal after only 26s by Marek Kincl.

- REUTERS