March 22, 2002	Friday	Muharram 7, 1423

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LONDON, March 21: Bayer Leverkusen swept to a 3-1 victory over Deportivo Coruna and Panathinaikos earned a 2-2 draw with Real Madrid on Wednesday to snatch the last two remaining places in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Leverkusen’s win meant they overtook Deportivo, who qualified last week, to finish the second phase top of group D and deny Arsenal a place in Friday’s draw.

Arsenal lost 1-0 to a largely second-string Juventus side in Turin after dominating the game at a near-empty Delle Alpi stadium.

A similar situation was played out in group C, where Real Madrid were already certain of finishing top.

Along with a win of their own, Porto needed a Real victory over Panathinaikos — but the eight-times European champions drew in Athens and the Portuguese slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Sparta Prague.

The top four will now join the winners of groups A and B, Manchester United and Barcelona, along with their respective runners-up Bayern Munich, the reigning champions, and Liverpool, in the draw at UEFA’s Swiss headquarters.

Group winners, who cannot be drawn against each other, will also benefit from playing the second legs of their quarter-finals at home. They cannot face their former group opponents from the second stage.

The spotlight had been on group D for Wednesday’s action, with English football hoping for a hat-trick of entrants to the last eight — only for Arsenal to be floored by a double whammy.

Leverkusen, unrecognisable from the team who were crushed 4-1 by Arsenal last month, outplayed their Spanish hosts in the first half and only poor finishing kept them to a 1-0 lead at the break after Michael Ballack’s header.

Bernd Schneider bundled home a second and Oliver Neuville’s glancing header in the 86th minute made sure of victory after substitute Diego Tristan had pulled one back for Deportivo.