Chelsea edges Cluj to advance in Champions League

Soccer Betting Lines

12/09/2008 - London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Substitute Didier Drogba scored the winning goal in the 71st minute and Chelsea defeated CFR Cluj 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday to secure a spot in the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Salomon Kalou also scored for Chelsea, which needed a win to secure one of the final three spots up for grabs in groups A-D. Roma and Panathinaikos earned the other spots in the knockout stage with wins on Tuesday.

Chelsea settled for second place in Group A behind Roma, possibly setting up a showdown with Barcelona in the first knockout stage. The draw is Dec. 19.

Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Liverpool and Sporting already wrapped up spots in the knockout stage prior to Tuesday's final matchday in groups A-D. Inter is in the same situation as Chelsea after slipping to second in Group B.

Bordeaux, Marseille and Werder Bremen secured the final three spots in the UEFA Cup, joining Shakhtar Donetsk - which ended Barcelona's 20-match winning streak with a 3-2 win Tuesday - as third-place group finishers.

Kalou put Chelsea in control late in the first half, moving into empty space in the box when two Cluj defenders collapsed on John Terry to open the scoring. He settled the ball at the six-yard box line, then tapped it into the net.

CFR Cluj, which beat Roma and tied Chelsea in its first two group matches, put the pressure back on Chelsea early in the second half when Yssouf Kone scored in the 55th.

Emmanuel Culio and Kone worked a quick one-two passing combo, and Kone finished the play with a header into the top corner.

Chelsea wasn't guaranteed a spot in the next round with a draw, but Drogba made sure the Blues didn't have to scoreboard watch.

Drogba, who replaced Kalou, settled a cross from Joe Cole deep in the area and then poked the ball into the net for the winning goal.

As it turned out, Chelsea didn't even need a single point because Roma defeated Bordeaux 2-0 to clinch the group. Bordeaux would have advanced in the Champions League with a win and a Chelsea tie or loss.

Matteo Brighi and Francesco Totti scored in the second half for Roma, which won the group by one point over Chelsea.

In Group B, Greece's Panathinaikos beat Cyprus' Anorthosis 1-0 to move into the top spot, while Werder Bremen won at Inter Milan 2-1 to make the UEFA Cup.

In Athens, Giorgios Karagounis scored the lone goal in the 69th minute to help the Greek club emerge as surprise winners of the group. Anorthosis could have won the group with a victory, but was eliminated despite totaling six points - the highest for a fourth-place finisher.

In Milan, Claudio Pizarro and Markus Rosenberg scored to hand Bremen a 2-0 lead and the German club held on for its first win of the stage. Bremen climbed one point ahead of Anorthosis to make the UEFA Cup, while Inter slipped to second.

In Group C, Shakhtar Donetsk topped Barcelona 3-2 but the Spanish giants rested the majority of their top players and Sporting defeated Switzerland's Basel 1-0 with nothing left to be decided on the final matchday.

In Barcelona, Olexandr Gladkiy scored twice and Shakhtar edged Barca's second team by scoring on all three of its shots on goal. Sylvinho and Sergi Busquets scored for Barcelona.

In Basel, Yannick scored in the 19th minute to help Sporting win its fourth in the group stage. Sporting's two losses were to Barcelona.

In Group D, Liverpool beat PSV 3-1 to finish first and Atletico Madrid settled for second after a 0-0 draw against Marseille.

In Eindhoven, Ryan Babel, Alberto Riera and David Ngog scored as Liverpool dug out of an early deficit to post the easy win.

In Marseille, the French club unleashed 20 shots while Atletico Madrid managed just one in the scoreless draw. Madrid still wouldn't have won the group with a win and Marseille would have advanced to the UEFA Cup even with a loss.

On Wednesday, groups E-H wrap up the stage with all eight spots in the knockout stage already decided but with the top spot up for grabs in each.

Manchester United and Villarreal are level in Group E, Lyon hosts Bayern Munich to decide Group F, Arsenal visits FC Porto to decide the winner of Group G and Juventus and Real Madrid, which will debut new boss Juande Ramos, are battling for the top spot in Group H.

Manchester United hosts AaB and Villarreal hosts Celtic in Group E, while Real Madrid hosts Zenit St. Petersburg and Juventus hosts BATE Borisov in Group H.

AaB and Zenit St Petersburg have two of the UEFA Cup spots secured, and Steaua Bucharest hosts Fiorentina to decide the third-place finisher from Group F and Dynamo Kyiv hosts Fenerbahce to decide the representative from Group G.

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds

Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it. Work left to do: Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney. Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson. Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable. Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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