Steaua's Nicolita gifts R. Madrid qualification

A farcical own goal from midfielder Banel Nicolita gifted Real Madrid a barely deserved 1-0 win over Steaua Bucharest yesterday that secured them a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Real join Group E winners Lyon in the next round. A first-half goal by Karim Benzema handed the French champions a 1-0 win over Dynamo Kiev and a place in the knockout stages.

Liverpool, PSV, Bayern Munich and Valencia had eased into the next round on Tuesday.

Top spot in Group E may be decided on November 21 when Lyon, still unbeaten in all competitions this season, visit Real Madrid.

After four consecutive defeats Kiev are bottom and have only a very slim chance of finishing above Steaua, who have three points, to finish third and qualify for the UEFA Cup.

Lyon sealed their 14th successive win thanks to a goal by young forward Benzema. Winger Sidney Gouvou outmanoeuvred two defenders to set up Benzema, who beat goalkeeper Olexander Shovkovsky with a powerful left foot shot.

In the second half, Kiev came close to levelling the scores through Artem Milevsky but he missed the target from inside the box.

At the Bernabeu, Nicolita rolled the ball past keeper Cornel Cernea into his own net from outside the area 20 minutes from time after a dreadful mix-up just as Steaua looked to be getting the better of their opponents.

Real striker Ruud van Nistelrooy spurned the chance to extend his side's lead two minutes later when he blasted a penalty over the bar after he had been brought down by Cernea as he bore down on the goal.

In Italy, playmaker Kaka hit a hat-trick as Milan beat Anderlecht 4-1 to tighten their grip on Group H.

The win gave the six-times European champions 10 points, five ahead of second-placed Lille with two games to play. A draw in their next match away to AEK Athens will be enough to send Milan through to the knockout phase.

Kaka, who also scored the winner when Milan beat Anderlecht 1-0 in Belgium two weeks ago, put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot in the seventh minute, after Roland Juhasz tripped Alberto Gilardino.

He grabbed his second midway through the first half and then angled in the third shortly after the interval.

Juhasz pulled one back for the visitors, but Gilardino restored the three-goal cushion with a goal on the break two minutes from time.

AEK Athens kept their hopes alive by beating 10-man Lille 1-0.

Greece striker Nikos Liberopoulos scored the only goal in the 74th minute when he stepped inside Jean Makoun and drilled the ball past goalkeeper Tony Sylva.

Lille had Greek defender Efstathios Tavlaridis sent off after collecting two yellow cards in the opening 22 minutes.

It was AEK's first win in 22 Champions League group games and gave them four points from four matches this season, one fewer than second-placed Lille.

Sweden striker Marcus Allback bundled the ball home to give FC Copenhagen a 1-0 win over an under-strength Manchester United in Group F.

Allback turned in Canadian midfielder Atiba Hutchinson's header after 73 minutes to record the Danish champions' first goal and victory in their debut season in Europe's premier club competition.

United stay top of the group with nine points ahead of Celtic on six after their 3-0 defeat away to Benfica, who are level on four points with Copenhagen.

United manager Alex Ferguson made several changes for the tie with Ryan Giggs, Louis Saha and Gary Neville not travelling because of injuries. Defender Rio Ferdinand and midfielder Paul Scholes both came off the bench in the second half.

A bumpy pitch made for a scrappy game but Wayne Rooney should have scored for United in the 64th when he headed Gabriel Heinze's cross wide.

Cristiano Ronaldo netted from close range in stoppage time but was flagged offside.

Wasteful Arsenal

Dominant Arsenal were guilty of wasting a host of chances in their 0-0 home draw with CSKA Moscow in Group G.

Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky were the chief culprits as Arsenal opened up group leaders CSKA time and time again at the Emirates Stadium.

The most glaring misses came when Rosicky missed an open goal from three metres in the first half and when the unmarked Van Persie headed wide from six metres in the 74th minute.

Wagner Love went closest to scoring for CSKA midway through the second period. The Russian side, yet to concede a goal in four group games, are on eight points while Arsenal have seven along with Porto who beat Hamburg away.

Lucho Gonzalez struck a sublime volley to lead Porto to a 3-1 win over the Bundesliga side, putting the Portuguese back in the hunt and knocking the Germans out.

Gonzalez, lurking 25 metres out, accepted a weak defensive header in the 44th minute and beat Sascha Kirschstein with a shot that whistled into the top left-hand corner.

Lisandro Lopez scored the second in the 61st minute and although Rafael van der Vaart pulled one back a minute later, Porto made sure of victory when Bruno Moraes cut in from the right and shot inside the far post three minutes from time.