Big guns roll through

Holders Manchester United and Villarreal cruised into the last 16 of the Champions League with a game to spare when they drew 0-0 at the Madrigal last night.

Elsewhere, there were no major surprises as Bayern Munich and Lyon secured their place in the next stage of the competition along with Arsenal, Porto and Real Madrid.

United and Villarreal share the lead in Group E with nine points from five matches.

Villarreal's Diego Lopez was the busier goalkeeper, turning a Cristiano Ronaldo drive on to the bar in the first half and saving a Wayne Rooney volley at close quarters in the second.

The home side's left-back Joan Capdevila was sent off eight minutes from time for a dangerous tackle on Ronaldo.

Miroslav Klose scored two and set up a third for Luca Toni to help Bayern beat Steaua Bucharest 3-0 in Group F.

Bayern created and missed chances galore against the overwhelmed visitors before Klose pounced to put them ahead from close range early in the second half.

Klose then set up Toni to dive and head in his first Champions League goal and the Germany striker took advantage of a great run and pass from the peerless Franck Ribery to seal a commanding victory ten minutes later.

Bayern, slowly finding form in their first season under Juergen Klinsmann, secure qualification with 11 points from their five games so far.

Steaua remain bottom of the group with a single point.

Lyon ended Fiorentina's hopes of progressing when they beat their Italian rivals 2-1 in the other Group F encounter at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Cameroon midfielder Jean Makoun fired the French champions ahead in the 15th minute and Karim Benzema drove in from outside the box after a strong run from midfield to double the lead 12 minutes later.

Italy forward Alberto Gilardino pulled one back for Fiorentina on the stroke of half-time when he headed a Mario Alberto Santana cross into the top corner.

Fiorentina only have a UEFA Cup place to play for when they visit Steaua Bucharest next month in their final game.

In London, Arsenal edged into the last 16 with a game to spare after an unconvincing 1-0 victory over Dynamo Kiev at the Emirates.

Substitute Nicklas Bendtner struck with three minutes remaining to keep Arsenal top of Group G and eliminate Kiev, who failed to capitalise on a nervy Arsenal display.

William Gallas returned to the Arsenal team after being dropped and stripped of the captaincy at the weekend and he almost gifted Kiev a goal shortly before half-time, Ismael Bangoura robbing him to fire a shot against the near post.

Robin van Persie had several near misses for Arsenal but Kiev, who had Olexandr Aliyev sent off in the final minute, should have gone in front late on when Artem Milevskiy shot straight at Manuel Almunia.

Two goals from Lisandro earned Porto a 2-1 victory against Fenerbahce and a place in the knock-out stage, with a late goal from Kazim Kazim not enough to rescue the home side.

Lisandro put the visitors ahead in the 19th minute in the Group G match after Fenerbahce failed to clear a corner, hooking in a shot from close range through the home side's defence.

He doubled the Portuguese side's lead after a throw-in 10 minutes later. Fenerbahce goalkeeper Volkan blocked his first shot on goal only for Lisandro to score with his second effort, despite claims of handball from Fenerbahce players.

Half-time substitute Kazim pulled a goal back for Fenerbahce in the 63rd minute with a long-range shot which deflected off Bruno Alves and went beyond the reach of Porto goalkeeper Helton.

Zenit St Petersburg were held to a 0-0 home draw by Juventus in an early kick-off as their hopes of reaching the knockout round faded away.

The Italians, who had already qualified for the last 16, dominated in the first half and hit the post twice as the temperatures dipped below zero in Russia's second city.

The home side, who had a goal disallowed for offside in the first half, increased the pressure after the interval but wasted a number of chances.

Real Madrid beat Champions League debutants BATE Borisov 1-0 later on to join Juve in the last 16, leaving Zenit in third place and a consolation of qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

Zenit coach Dick Advocaat, who had predicted before the match that his team would beat Juventus 1-0, rued the spurned chances.

"Juventus is a top-class team and the draw was a fair result," the Dutchman told reporters.

"But obviously we're all disappointed. We've played well in almost all our Champions League matches but came away with only five points out of 15. I feel we deserve better than that."

An early strike from Raul did the trick for Real in freezing conditions. The Spanish champions scored after seven minutes when the captain netted his 64th goal in UEFA club competitions, making him Europe's joint top scorer alongside Milan's Filippo Inzaghi.

Celtic out of contention

Two fortunate deflections gave AaB Aalborg a stunning come-from-behind 2-1 win over Celtic in the other Group E match.

Neither team can reach the knockout round but Aalborg will finish third and qualify for the UEFA Cup.

Scotland international Barry Robson, who missed a penalty in the first group match against Aalborg, put Celtic ahead in the 53rd minute when he headed past goalkeeper Karim Zaza.

The hosts levelled 20 minutes later when Caca's long range shot sailed over keeper Artur Boruc aided by a slight deflection off Stephen McManus. Another ricochet in the 87th minute gave AaB victory as the ball spun into the net off Gary Caldwell in a goalmouth scramble.