PARIS, March 13: Arsenal’s dreams of European Champions League glory were left hanging in the balance after a 2-0 defeat by Deportivo La Coruna as Italian giants Juventus were dumped out of the competition.

The Group D fate of Arsene Wenger’s will now depend on other results next week after goals from Juan Carlos Valeron and Nourredine Naybet fired the Galicians to a deserved victory.

The win assured Deportivo of a place in the last eight, but leaves Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen vying for the second qualifying spot from the group. Juventus were eliminated when they crashed 3-1 at Leverkusen in the night’s other game.

Juventus could mathematically finish with the same points totals as Leverkusen and Arsenal if results fall their way next week. But Marcello Lippi’s Serie A powerhouses are out of qualifying because of head-to-head results.

Deportivo’s win was the highlight of a good night for Spanish clubs, with Real Madrid underscoring their superiority in Group C with a 3-0 win over Sparta Prague at the Bernabeu.

Goals from Santiago Solari, Guti and Savio gave Real, already assured of their place in the quarterfinals, a comfortable victory which saw them preserve their 100 percent record at the top of the Group.

In the group’s other match Portugal’s 1987 European Cup winners Porto beat Panathinaikos 2-1 to stay in touch for a place in the knockout phase.

Arsenal, with a 100 percent home record in Europe this season, had gone into their match confident of securing three more points that would put them within touching distance of the quarterfinals.

But Fortress Highbury was well and truly ransacked in a 10-minute attacking burst by Deportivo midway through the first half.

Two rapier thrusts ripped open the Gunners defence Valeron scoring on 30 minutes before Naybet made it two five mintues before the interval.

Gilles Grimandi headed over from close range as Arsenal went in search of the goal that would bring them back into the game early in the second half, but Deportivo almost added a third on the hour when Diego Tristan’s chipped free-kick clipped the crossbar.

Freddie Ljungberg came on in the 61st minute and his introduction paid almost immediate dividends when he earned a penalty for Arsenal when keeper Jose Francisco Molina hauled him down in the box.

But Thierry Henry’s spot-kick was well-saved by Molina and Deportivo regrouped to hold out for a win that delighted coach Javier Irureta.

Irureta was overcome with emotion after watching his side claim their second English scalp in Europe this season following their victory over Manchester United earlier in the competition.

In Leverkusen, strikers Dimitar Berbatov and Thomas Brdaric were the heroes for the home side, having a superb match as the Germans bounced back from their 4-0 drubbing against Arsenal in style.

Bulgarian Berbatov and Croat Brdaric were in the thick of the action throughout, continually creating problems for Juventus, who looked out of sorts throughout.

Berbatov was involved in the move which led to the home side’s 24th-minute penalty — blasted home by keeper Hans-Jorg Butt — and Brdaric nodded home in the 71st minute to put Leverkusen back in front after Igor Tudor had equalised for Juventus 10 minutes earlier.

Marko Babic hit a further strike for the hosts in the dying seconds after Juventus were left open on the counter-attack as they pressed for a second equaliser.—AFP

Porto 2 Panathinaikos 1

Real Madrid 3 Sparta Prague 0

Arsenal 0 Deportivo Coruna 2

Bayer Leverkusen 3 Juventus 1