Liverpool, Inter and Chelsea through to last 16 (Reuters) Updated: 2005-11-24 08:55
LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - European champions Liverpool, Inter Milan and
Chelsea moved into the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday, although
Liverpool took their place despite being held to a goalless draw at Anfield by
Real Betis.
That point was enough to see them through from Group G along with English
rivals Chelsea, who also advanced after a comfortable 2-0 win over Anderlecht in
Brussels, the Belgian side's record-extending 12th successive Champions League
defeat.
Ten teams are now through to the last 16 with Liverpool, Chelsea and Inter
joining Arsenal, Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Olympique
Lyon and Real Madrid in the first knockout round.
AC Milan is back on course as Andriy Shevchenko scored four goals to
lead to a crushing 4-0 win over Fenerbahce in Group E. The win put Milan
top of the group level on eight points with their final opponents Schalke, who
beat PSV Eindhoven 3-0.
Despite failing to win, Liverpool (11 points) did enough to qualify and will
either finish first or second in the group depending on the outcome of their
last match at Chelsea (10 points) on December 6.
Chelsea raced into a 2-0 lead after only 15 minutes against Anderlecht in
Brussels with goals from Hernan Crespo and Ricardo Carvalho, but despite
dominating the English champions could not score again.
Neither, unsurprisingly, could Anderlecht who have now gone five games
without a goal in this season's competition proper.
Chelsea at least ended a year's wait for an away win in the competition after
five defeats and a draw.
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