Champions League - Tuesday 23rd November (Matchday 5) round-up

Manchester City were left on the brink of a Champions League exit last night as they were beaten 2-1 by Napoli in Group A. Meanwhile, their red neighbours were put under immense pressure themselves as their wastefulness in a 2-2 draw with Benfica means that they must avoid defeat away to Basel when the sides meet in a fortnight's time.

City began the night knowing that a win in Naples would ensure qualification from their group and a chance to top the table on the final matchday when they host Bayern Munich. It wasn't to be, however, and Roberto Mancini's men fell behind in the 17th minute due to some sloppy City defending and a clever near post header from Edinson Cavani, a reported City target.

Cavani got to the ball at the near post in front of Yaya Toure, who's marking was light to say the least, to meet the Napoli corner and, with Aleksandor Kolarov absent at the near post, both the Russian full-back and Joe Hart watched the ball nip into the Man City goal.

Mario Balotelli gave Mancini's side a vital equaliser to take into the break although, based on the run of play, the leveller was barely deserved. Salvatore Aronica's terrible clearance fell in the path of David Silva and the Spaniard found rare space in the Napoli box to fire a stinging shot at the home sides goal. Morgan De Sanctis could only parry Silva's shot into the path of a grateful Balotelli who made no mistake from four yards out to score his ninth of the season.

Man City were soon behind again after the restart thanks to Cavani's 2nd goal of the game which killed the game off. The Argentine striker played a neat one-two with former Liverpool player Andrea Dossena and, whilst on the run, he confidently volleyed home his fellow Argentinian's cut-back past Joe Hart for his fourth Champions League goal of the campaign.

City rarely threatened after that, apart from a Balotelli effort that was well saved by Sanctis, and they were lucky to escape with just the one goal deficit. Qualification is now taken out of City's hands and they must hope that they can beat Bayern at home on Matchday 6 and that Villarreal avoid defeat at home to Napoli.

Villarreal remain bottom of the group with no pints to show from their five games of the competition following Bayern's 3-1 victory at home over their Spanish opposition. Bayern ensured qualification as winners of Group A thanks to two goals from Franck Ribery and one from Mario Gomez. Jonathan De Guzman was Villarreal's scorer.

United remain much more likely to progress despite a disappointing evening at Old Trafford which saw them draw 2-2 with Benfica who have now qualified from Group C. The Portugese side took the lead in the third-minute thanks to Phil Jones' own-goal. Nicolas Gaitan, much talked off as a potential future United signing, broke down the right and his cross hit Patrice Evra before Jones deflected it past David De Gea in the Red Devils' goal.

Dimitar Berbatov restored parity with his first Champions League goal since 2008 when headed home Nani's cross in the 30th minute. It was a welcome goal for the Bulgarian and only his second of the season, his other coming against Aldershot in the League Cup.

United then took the lead in the 59th minute thanks to Darren Fletcher's goal but the lead was short-lived as Pablo Aimar equalised just a minute later to make sure that the sides shared the points. Both teams had chances to win the game in the dying minutes but failed to do so and now United must avoid defeat against Swiss side Basel on Matchday 6 to ensure progression.

In the group's other game Basel came out eventual winners over Romanian side Otelul Galati in a thriller that ended 3-2 in the Swiss side's favour, to ensure that their qualification dreams were kept alive. Galati were 3-0 down thanks to two Basel goals from Alexander Frei and a Marco Strellar effort but ensured a tense last ten minutes by scoring twice in six minutes. Gabriel Girgui pulled one back on 75 minutes and Liviu Antal made it 3-2 but the Romanian's couldn't complete an historic comeback and remain bottom of the group without a point.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid continued their onslaught on this year's competition as they hammered Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb 6-2 at the Bernabeau. Real were 4-0 up by the 20th minute thanks to goals from Karim Benzema, Jose Callejon, Gonzalo Higuain and Mesut Ozil. Callejon got his second of the game just after the break and Benzema also completed his brace to make it 6-0 to the home side in the 65th minute.

Real made it 5 wins out of 5 with the victory over Zagreb and have scored 16 goals in that period but Zagreb will take from the game the fact that they scored the first goals past Real in this year's tournament. Montenegran Fatos Berqiraj (81) and Coratian Ivan Tomecak (90) with the Zagreb goals.

The other tie in Group D saw Lyon draw with Ajax which means that Ajax remain 3 points clear of Lyon with just the single game to play and with a seven goal swing needed for Lyon to progress if the French side win and the Dutch side lose in two weeks' time, Ajax are most likely to progress. With Ajax facing Real Madrid and Lyon travelling to Zagreb, however, the unlikely may well be possible.

Inter Milan travelled to Turkey to face Trabzonspor in Group B and ensured qualification after a 1-1 draw with the home side. Trabzonspor gained an unlikely victory over their Italian counterparts on the opening game of the group stage in September and were looking for a repeat performance at home. This proved unlikely after Ricardo Alvarez's excellent goal gave Inter the lead after 18 minutes but the home side pegged the Italian giants back just 5 minutes later. Halil Altintop's long-range effort took a huge deflection off of an Inter defender and gave Julio Cesar no chance in the Inter goal.

Lille kept their chances of qualification alive with a win away to CSKA Moscow thanks to two second half goals. Lille took the lead after an excellent own goal from Vasili Berezutski who lobbed his 'keeper from the edge of the area with the ball kissing the bar on it's way into the Russian side's net. The French side's second was far more impressive as Eden Hazard's superb reverse ball gave Joe Cole the freedom of the Moscow penalty area and his chipped effort past the advancing 'keeper was unlucky to only hit the post. Luckily, for Lille, Senegalese forward Moussa Sow was on hand to tap in from just two yards out.

With Inter through it is now down to the last round of fixtures to decide who joins them in the last 16 of the competition, who enters the Europa League and who's European adventure comes to an end. Trabzonspor currently lie 2nd with six points and travel to Lille on Matchday 6 with the French side 3rd just a point adrift and ahead of bottom side CSKA Moscow on goal difference. The Russians travel to Italy to take on Inter with it all to do and will be hoping that the battle in Lyon ends in a draw and that they can gain an unlikely win over the 2009 champions.