Inter and Chelsea take their places in last 16

Inter and Chelsea took their places in the last 16 of the Champions League yesterday while Barcelona avoided the ignominy of becoming the first reigning European champions to be eliminated in the group phase.

Inter secured their place in the last 16 with a 1-0 Group B win over Sporting Lisbon in Milan to ensure they advanced with previously-qualified Bayern Munich who drew 2-2 at Spartak Moscow.

Hernan Crespo smashed home Inter's winner. The decisive goal came in the 36th minute when Inter's Serbian midfielder Dejan Stankovic played the ball over the top to Crespo who unleashed a fierce first time shot past Sporting keeper Ricardo.

Sporting produced some smart approach play but were unable to create clear cut chances and it was Inter who went closer to scoring in the latter stages.

Chelsea advance from Group A despite losing 1-0 at Werder Bremen where Per Mertesacker scored the only goal.

Mertesacker, the tall German defender, took advantage of poor marking at a corner to power in a header in the 27th minute.

Michael Ballack, the man who failed to pick up Mertesacker, should have made amends but the Germany captain made a mess of the best Chelsea chance of the game, giving Tim Wiese an easy save when he met Joe Cole's perfect cross only with his thigh.

Notwithstanding that defeat Chelsea remain top of the group with 10 points, the same total as Werder and two ahead of Barcelona, who won 2-0 at Levski Sofia.

Chelsea have a better head-to-head record against both Werder and Barca and cannot finish lower than second, no matter the outcome of the last group matches on Dec. 5 when Chelsea are at home to Levski and Barcelona host Werder.

Barcelona were facing elimination if they had lost yesterday but goals from Ludovic Giuly and Andres Iniesta ensured they remain in contention. They will go through if they beat Werder in their final match.

The Spanish giants got the ideal start in the fourth minute when the home defence failed to clear Gianluca Zambrotta's right wing cross and the unmarked Giuly's fearsome shot gave goalkeeper Georgi Petkov no chance.

Barcelona doubled their lead after 64 minutes when Petkov failed to hold on to Deco's shot and Iniesta made no mistake on the rebound.

Liverpool secured top spot in Group C with a 2-0 win over PSV Eindhoven at Anfield while Giron-dins Bordeaux beat Galatasaray 3-1 in the same group to take the UEFA Cup place.

Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch scored for Liverpool. PSV Eindhoven had also already qualified for the knockout stages.

The Dutch side's 17-match unbeaten run came to an end with Gerrard capping an all-action display in central midfield with a goal after 65 minutes.

Liverpool added to Gerrard's goal with a minute left when Dirk Kuyt headed Luis Garcia's cross back across goal and Crouch nodded home.

Valencia wrapped up top spot in Group D with a match to spare after their 2-0 win over Olympiakos Piraeus.

Shakhtar Donetsk not only boosted their hopes of taking the UEFA Cup spot by climbing to third with a 1-0 home win over Roma but could even snatch second place if they beat Olympiakos in their final match and the Italians lose at home to Valencia.

Ciprian Marica headed home in the 61st minute to give Shakhtar Donetsk victory.

In one of several chances for the home side, Jadson raced in on goal alone in the 75th minute only to have the ball taken away from him by Roma goalkeeper Doni.

Brazilian Brandao had a shot from close range parried by Doni in injury time.

Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Olympique Lyon, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid, Valencia, Milan and Celtic had all qualified for the last 16 with Chelsea and Inter now swelling the number of qualifiers to 10 with the last round of group matches scheduled for Dec. 5 and 6.