Chelsea players celebrate after the team scores today.
Chelsea moved closer to qualification with a hard-fought 1-0 home win over
Roma.- Xinhua
Barcelona are on the verge of the Champions League last 16 after a 5-0 win at
Basle while Chelsea, Inter Milan also scored wins yesterday.
Bojan Krkic made a double, and Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Xavi
Hernandez were on target for a stunning performance by Barca which left them as
the only team to maintain an all-win record after three games in the group
stage.
Chelsea moved closer to qualification with a hard-fought 1-0 home win over
Roma and Inter Milan also looked set to advance after beating Anorthosis
Famagusta 1-0.
Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid when Robbie Keane's
opener was cancelled out by Simao Sabrosa, but the English side are still
well-positioned for the knockout stage.
The result put the two teams at the joint top of Group D on seven points and
PSV Eindhoven, which earned their first points with a 2-0 home win over
Olympique Marseille, are left a far third.
Lionel Messi opened the scoring for Barca in stunning fashion after just four
minutes as he rounded off a flowing move by slotting home Daniel Alves'
delightful chip.
Busquets and Krkic made it 3-0 by the 22nd minute before Krkic grabbed his
second of the night just after the restart in a swift Barcelona counter-attack.
Xavi drove in a powerful fifth three minutes into the second half to pile the
misery on Basle.
But Barca coach Pep Guardiola said the win was not as easy as the scoreline
might have suggested.
"We will not let the result get to our heads, but it was important for the
future," he said.
"It is never easy and the players were always having to work and give their
maximum but we did what we wanted to do, running the ball and playing well
between the lines."
Barcelona have nine points in Group C, three more than Sporting Lisbon, who
won at Shakhtar 1-0 through a 76th-minute goal by Liedson.
A late header from John Terry finally broke Roma's stubborn resistance as
Chelsea, still without several key players, moved three points clear at the top
of group A.
Chelsea came closest to breaking the deadlock in a quiet first half when a
Frank Lampard free-kick skimmed off the top of the crossbar but Luiz Felipe
Scolari's side were far from their best.
Cluj sit second in the group on four points after a 1-0 defeat at Bordeaux,
who recorded their first win.
Elsewhere in Europe, an Adriano header on the stroke of half- time handed
Cypriot minnows Anorthosis Famagusta their first defeat and left Inter in pole
position on seven points to progress to the second round from Group B.
Cypriots are second on four, one point ahead of Werder Bremen, who played out
their third consecutive draw as they were held 2-2 by Panathinaikos.