November 30, 2007	Friday	Ziqa’ad 19, 1428

PARIS, Nov 29: Chelsea and AC Milan became the latest teams to seal their places in the Champions League knockout stage after the penultimate batch of group matches on Wednesday.

This duo joined Arsenal, Manchester United, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Roma and Sevilla, who have already ensured their presence in the next round, leaving eight tickets still to be claimed.

Among those sides with work to do in the final cluster of group games next month are nine-time European champions Real Madrid, who came unstuck 3-2 at Werder Bremen.

Real's loss blew Group C wide open with any one of the four teams still in with a chance of making it to the last 16.

In contrast to the Spanish giants Chelsea can now approach their final group phase fixture at home to Valencia in the safe position as Group B leaders irrespective of the result on December 11 after a 4-0 stroll at Rosenborg.

Chelsea's last meeting with the Norwegians – that drab 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge which triggered Jose Mourinho's departure - was a distant memory as Chelsea tore apart Rosenborg's sometime dreadful defending.

With a goal apiece from Alex and Joe Cole and a brace from Didier Drogba Avram Grant's side warmed up their travelling supporters who braved the freezing temperatures in Trondheim – including the hardy fan who watched the entire game shirtless.

Blue’s skipper John Terry was evidently pleased and happy to get through to the next round.

“We sta0rted really well, the pitch was a bit wet and difficult but we adapted well. We knew it was going to be difficult but the early goal helped and all the front boys performed really well today.

“It was a great Chelsea performance, we wanted to get as many goals as possible and thankfully we’re through and that’s all that matters,” he told Sky Sports.

Liverpool put themselves back in business with a 4-1 stroll over Group A leaders FC Porto at Anfield with Fernando Torres getting a double and Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch striking late.

In Glasgow, Celtic were on course for a 1-1 draw against Shakhtar Donetsk after the opener from the Ukrainian's Brandao had been cancelled out by Jiri Jarosik until Massimo Dontai produced a dramatic injury time winner.

The win left Celtic in second in Group D on nine points ahead of next month's final game away to AC Milan squeezed through after a 1-1 draw at Benfica.

Results:

Group A

Besiktas 2 Marseille 1

Liverpool 4 FC Porto 1

Rosenborg 0 Chelsea 4

Valencia 0 Schalke 04 0

Werder Bremen 3 Real Madrid 2

Lazio 1 Olympiakos 2

Benfica 1 AC Milan 1

Celtic 2 Shakhtar Donetsk 1

—AFP