Liverpool’s Champions League challenge ended in a 1-1 draw against FC Basel, who booked their spot in the last 16 last night after withstanding a late fightback sparked by a stunning Steven Gerrard free-kick.

Juventus booked their place in the knock-out stages after they held on to a goalless draw against Group B winners Atletico Madrid while Monaco pipped Zenit St Petersburg to second place in the group after a 2-0 home win over the Russians.

At Anfield, Gerrard curled the ball into the top corner with eight minutes remaining to cancel out Fabian Frei’s rasping first-half drive, but the Premier League side, who had been reduced to 10 men following the second half sending off of Lazar Markovic, could not find the crucial winner.

Barring their late flurry, it was a largely a dismal home performance from Liverpool who finished third in Group B on five points, two adrift of second placed Basel.

Liverpool, whose poor start to the season shows no sign of improving, will now drop into the demanding Europa League.

In the other match from Group B, Real Madrid made it six wins out of six and set a Spanish record for consecutive victories when a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty set them on the way to a 4-0 success at home to 10-man Ludogorets.

Already through to the last 16 as group winners, holders Real romped to a 19th straight victory in all competitions, surpassing the record of 18 they jointly held with Barcelona.

Carlo Ancelotti’s men came close to scoring several times before the Bulgarian champions were reduced to 10 men after 19 minutes when midfielder Marcelinho handled at a corner to keep out a Raphael Varane header and was shown a straight red card.

Ronaldo slotted his spot kick down the middle with a cheeky chip for his 72nd Champions League goal, overtaking former Real striker Raul (71) and moving into second overall behind Barcelona forward Lionel Messi (74).

Gareth Bale headed in off the underside of the crossbar at a corner to make it 2-0 in the 38th minute, Alvaro Arbeloa added an 80th-minute third and substitute Alvaro Medran struck the fourth for the dominant home side two minutes from time.

Juventus had veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to thank as they scraped into the knockout stages with a goalless draw at home to Atletico Madrid.

The stalemate also suited Atletico who were already qualified and guaranteed top spot in Group B. Juventus, who went out in the group stage last season, made sure of second place with 10 points, three behind Atletico.

The Serie A champions had most of the possession but were short on ideas for breaking down a typically resolute Atletico defence and it was the Spanish champions who looked more dangerous when they ventured forward.

The last few minutes were a non-event as Juventus passed the ball around in their own half of the field.

Monaco progress

Aymen Abdennour and Fabinho’s second-half goals helped Monaco beat Zenit St Petersburg 2-0 at home and send the principality side into the last 16.

Centre back Abdennour headed home in the 64th minute and Fabinho doubled the tally with a low shot one minute from time as Monaco clinched top spot in Group C with 11 points from six games.

Bayer Leverkusen, who were held to a goalless draw at Benfica, finished one point behind.

Zenit will drop into the Europa League round of 32.

Stunning goals from Lukas Podolski and Aaron Ramsey, who both scored twice, gave Arsenal a morale-boosting 4-1 win over Galatasaray as they finished in second place in Group D.

Arsenal were already assured of a place in the last 16 for the 15th successive season with the only issue to be decided being whether they could overtake Borussia Dortmund to finish top of the standings.

But Borussia’s 1-1 draw with Anderlecht meant the Germans topped the section on 13 points, the same as Arsenal but top on goal difference, followed by Anderlecht on six and Galatasaray on one.

The outcome at the Turk Telecom Arena was virtually settled inside the first 11 minutes after Podolski slammed in a blistering left-foot shot to open the scoring and Ramsey slotted home eight minutes later after good approach work from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Ramsey then scored one of the goals of the season after 29 minutes when he smashed an unstoppable left-foot volley past goalkeeper Sinan Bolat from 30 metres.

Wesley Sneijder scored a consolation for the home side with a brilliantly-executed free-kick after 88 minutes before Podolski made it 4-1 with the last kick of the game.

Summaries

A. Madrid 0
Juventus 0

Olympiakos 4
Fuster 22; Dominguez 63; Mitroglou 87; Afellay 90;
Malmo 2
Kroon 59; Rosenberg 81;

Red card: Adu (M) 90+.

R. Madrid 4
Ronaldo 20 pen.; Bale 38; Arbeloa 80; Medran 88;
Ludogorets 0

Red card: Marcelinho (L) 19.

Liverpool 1
Gerrard 81;
Basel 1
Frei 25;

Red card: Markovic (L) 61.

Monaco 2
Abdennour 63; Fabinho 89;
Zenit SP 0

Benfica 0
B. Leverkusen 0

Galatasaray 1
Sneijder 88;
Arsenal 4
Podolski 3, 90; Ramsey 11, 29;

B. Dortmund 1
Immobile 58;
Anderlecht 1
Mitrovic 84;

Group A

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Atl. Madrid	6	4	1	1	14	3	13
Juventus	6	3	1	2	7	4	10
Olympiakos	6	3	0	3	10	13	9
Malmo	6	1	0	5	4	15	3

Olympiakos vs A. Madrid - 3-2
Juventus vs Malmo - 2-0
Malmo vs Olympiakos - 2-0
Atl. Madrid vs Juventus - 1-0
Atl. Madrid vs Malmo - 5-0
Olympiakos vs Juventus - 1-0
Malmo vs Atl. Madrid - 0-2
Juventus vs Olympiakos - 3-2
Atl. Madrid vs Olympiakos - 4-0
Malmo vs Juventus - 0-2
Olympiakos vs Malmo - 4-2
Juventus vs Atl. Madrid - 0-0

Group B

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
R. Madrid	6	6	0	0	16	2	18
Basel	6	2	1	3	7	8	7
Liverpool	6	1	2	3	5	9	5
Ludogorets	6	1	1	4	5	14	4

Liverpool vs Ludogorets - 2-1
R. Madrid vs Basel - 5-1
Basel vs Liverpool - 1-0
Ludogorets vs Real Madrid - 1-2
Ludogorets vs Basel - 1-0
Liverpool vs Real Madrid - 0-3
Basel vs Ludogorets - 4-0
R. Madrid vs Liverpool - 1-0
Ludogorets vs Liverpool - 2-2
Basel vs Real Madrid - 0-1
Liverpool vs Basel - 1-1
R. Madrid vs Ludogorets - 4-0

Group C

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Monaco	6	3	2	1	4	1	11
B. Leverkusen	6	3	1	2	7	4	10
Zenit SP	6	2	1	3	4	6	7
Benfica	6	1	2	3	2	6	5

Monaco vs Bayer Leverkusen - 1-0
Benfica vs Zenit SP - 0-2
Zenit SP vs Monaco - 0-0
B. Leverkusen vs Benfica - 3-1
B. Leverkusen vs Zenit SP - 2-0
Monaco vs Benfica - 0-0
Zenit vs Leverkusen - 1-2
Benfica vs Monaco - 1-0
Zenit SP vs Benfica - 1-0
B. Leverkusen vs Monaco - 0-1
Monaco vs Zenit SP - 2-0
Benfica vs B. Leverkusen - 0-0

Group D

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
B. Dortmund	6	4	1	1	14	4	13
Arsenal	6	4	1	1	15	8	13
Anderlecht	6	1	3	2	8	10	6
Galatasaray	6	0	1	5	4	19	1

Galatasaray vs Anderlecht - 1-1
B. Dortmund vs Arsenal - 2-0
Arsenal vs Galatasaray - 4-1
Anderlecht vs B. Dortmund - 0-3
Anderlecht vs Arsenal - 1-2
Galatasaray vs B. Dortmund - 0-4
Arsenal vs Anderlecht - 3-3
B. Dortmund vs Galatasaray - 4-1
Anderlecht vs Galatasaray - 2-0
Arsenal vs B. Dortmund - 2-0
Galatasaray vs Arsenal - 1-4
B. D’tmund vs Anderlecht - 1-1

Playing today

Group E
Roma vs Manchester City
B. Munich vs CSKA Moscow

Group F
Barcelona vs Paris SG
Ajax vs APOEL

Group G
Chelsea vs Sporting Lisbon
Maribor vs Schalke

Group H
Porto vs Shakhtar Donetsk
Athletic Bilbao vs BATE Borisov