LONDON, Dec 9: Former European champions Real Madrid and Liverpool scored vastly contrasting victories to reach the knockout round of the Champions League on Wednesday.

Real, European champions nine times, ended any doubts about their progression to the last 16 when they coasted to a 3-0 win over AS Roma in a deserted Olympic Stadium on the last night of group matches to finish behind Bayer Leverkusen in Group B.

Liverpool, European champions four times, went behind to a Rivaldo free kick after 27 minutes but came back to beat Olympiakos Piraeus 3-1 in a sensational match at Anfield where a passionate home crowd ran the full gamut of emotions.

Despairing at the break, their spirits rose throughout the second half as goals from substitutes Florent Sinama Pongolle (47), Neil Mellor (80) and a thunderous 25-metre strike from skipper Steven Gerrard (86) turned a night that threatened to end in despair into one of joy, evoking memories of Liverpool's glory days of the 1970s and 80s.

In the end Monaco's easy 5-0 victory at Coruna meant the French side (12 points) went through with Liverpool (10 pts) who pipped Olympiakos (10 pts) due to a better head-to-head record against the Greek side, who drop into the UEFA Cup. Deportivo, semi-finalists last season, became the first team to go through six Champions League qualifying matches without scoring a single goal in any of them.

In Rome's empty stadium - closed on UEFA orders following crowd trouble earlier in the competition - goals from Ronaldo after nine minutes, a 61st minute Luis Figo penalty when Ronaldo was tripped and Figo's second after 82 minutes gave Real the win they needed to advance from Group B.

Real went through with Leverkusen who beat Dynamo Kiev 3-0 to send the Ukrainians, group leaders at the start of play, crashing down to third place and into the UEFA Cup.

Juventus and Bayern Munich were already sure of their places in the last 16 after securing first and second positions in Group C and both failed to win. Ajax Amsterdam drew 2-2 with Bayern, Maccabi Tel Aviv drew 1-1 with Juventus which meant Ajax claimed the UEFA Cup berth.

Olympique Lyon finished top of Group D after thrashing bottom-placed Sparta Prague 5-0 while Fenerbahce beat a Manchester United shadow team 3-0 to inflict a first defeat on Alex Ferguson's side who finished second.

RESULTS

GROUP A:

Deportivo La Coruna 0 Monaco 5

Liverpool 3 Olympiakos 1

Group B

Bayer Leverkusen 3 Dynamo Kiev 0

Roma 0 Real Madrid 3

Group C

Ajax 2 Bayern Munich 2

Maccabi Tel Aviv 1 Juventus 1

Group D

Fenerbahce 3 Manchester United 0

Lyon 5 Sparta Prague 0.

ODDS:

9-2 Chelsea (England)

11-2 Barcelona (Spain), AC Milan (Italy)

7-1 Arsenal (England)

15-2 Juventus (Italy)

9-1 Manchester United (England)

11-1 Real Madrid (Spain)

14-1 Inter Milan (Italy)

20-1 Olympique Lyon (France), Bayern Munich (Germany)

25-1 Werder Bremen (Germany), Monaco (France)

28-1 Liverpool (England), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)

50-1 PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)

66-1 Porto (Portugal). -Agencies