GROUP F: Lionel Messi's superb free-kick earned Barcelona a 2-1 victory against Dynamo Kiev and send the European Champions into the first knockout round last night.
Messi struck four minutes from time as Barca finished top of the group on 11 points, two ahead of Inter Milan, who beat Rubin Kazan. Kiev finished bottom with Kazan claiming the Europa League place.
Dynamo Kiev stunned the holders just two minutes after kick off with Artem Milevskiy heading the home side in front as he latched onto a free-kick from Andriy Shevchenko. Xavi equalised on 33 minutes when he converted an Eric Abidal cross.
Goals from Samuel Eto’o and Mario Balotelli secured a 2-0 home win for Inter over Kazan to secure a knockout spot.
GROUP G: Three goals within the first 11 minutes helped earn Vfb Stuttgart second place as they beat Unirea Urziceni 3-1 to leapfrog the Romanian champions into the last 16.
Stuttgart took the lead on five minutes when Ciprian Marica headed in from close range.
Christian Traesch doubled the lead before Russian international Pavel Pogrebnyak killed the game off with a tight turn and finish after just 11 minutes.
Antonio Semedo pulled a goal back for Unirea immediately after half-time, but they never looked likely to mount a serious comeback.
Sevilla made sure of top spot when a Frederic Kanoute penalty gave them a comfortable 1-0 home victory over Rangers.
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