Arsenal and Fiorentina go through, Liverpool out

Arsenal reached the last 16 of the Champions League for the 10th season in a row yesterday but five-times winners Liverpool were knocked out despite beating Debrecen 1-0.

Fiorentina's 1-0 win at home to already-qualified Olympique Lyon, courtesy of a first-half penalty by Peru midfielder Juan Vargas, sent the Italian team through at Liverpool's expense.

Barcelona revived their chances by beating Inter 2-0 with goals in the first half hour from Gerard Pique and Pedro.

The win sent Barcelona top of Group F with eight points, two ahead of Josè Mourinho's side and Russian champions Rubin Kazan who were held to a goalless draw at home in the snow by Dynamo Kiev.

At the Emirates, first-half goals by Samir Nasri and Denilson settled the game and though the Belgians twice hit the woodwork they were second-best for most of the night.

Arsenal's victory takes them to 13 points, six clear of Olympiakos Piraeus after their goalless draw at AZ Alkmaar.

Liege, with four points, need to win their last game at home to Alkmaar and hope Arsenal beat Olympiakos at the Emirates to allow them to progress on their better head-to-head record against the Greeks.

In Florence, Vargas thumped home the winner in the 28th minute after Marco Marchionni was brought down from behind by Aly Cissokho after he had skipped past the French full-back.

The Serie A side were hungrier than their already qualified opponents and hit the post twice before taking the lead, although Lyon gave them some scares in the closing stages.

The win takes Fiorentina to the top of the group with 12 points, two more than Lyon, and makes their final game at Liverpool next month a dead match.

"It's important for us, we've gone through," Vargas told Sky television. "We played a good match, so did Lyon, and now we hope to continue as we are."

David Ngog's fourth minute goal gave Liverpool their Group E win in Hungary but it was not enough.

Liverpool got off to a flying start with some assistance from fallible defending when Ngog poked in Jamie Carragher's header from a corner.

Debrecen had their best chance 10 minutes from time but Gergely Rudolf's sharp shot from a narrow angle was parried wide by Pepe Reina.

At the Nou Camp, Pep Guardiola's Barcelona started the day under pressure lying third in the group and were weakened when Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were not in the starting XI.

But any worries were quickly dispelled when Pique volleyed in from a 10th-minute corner. Pedro then doubled the advantage after a flowing attacking move.

Inter, who started the day top of the group, struggled to create any chances.

VfB Stuttgart eliminated Rangers from the Champions League with a 2-0 away win which kept alive the German side's hopes of reaching the knockout stages.

Stuttgart, who have six points and are third in Group G, need to beat Unirea Urziceni at home in their final game on Dec. 9 to progress. Romania's Urziceni have eight points, two behind group leaders Sevilla.

Rangers, whose previous Champions League home games this season ended in 4-1 defeats - against Sevilla and Unirea - have two points.

Sebastian Rudy side-footed an easy opening goal after 16 minutes when he was left unmarked 10 metres out on the right to pounce on a low ball from Aleksandr Hleb.

Rangers striker Kris Boyd passed up a fabulous chance to level the game six minutes from the interval after Kenny Miller seized on a poor pass from Pavel Pogrebnyak on the right and charged forward to sweep in an inviting cross from the right. But Boyd planted a seven-metre header over the crossbar with only keeper Jens Lehmann to beat.

Stuttgart went 2-0 up when Zdravko Kuzmanovic headed the second just before the hour from a fine cross on the right by Rudy.