Champions League - Wednesday 24th November (Matchday 5) round-up

After slumping to a 2-1 loss in Leverkusen last night, Chelsea now need to avoid defeat when they host Valencia at Stamford Bridge in two weeks' time to ensure qualification from Group E of the Champions League.

Chelsea were given the run-around last night by former Blue Michael Ballack and his new team-mates and looked particularly lacklustre as their poor form of late continued in Gemany. Ballack almost gave the home side the lead with an excellent header that rattled Petr Cech's cross-bar in a first half that provided little goalmouth action. Didier Drogba, played in superbly by Daniel Sturridge starting ahead of Fernando Torres, had Chelsea's best chance to take the lead as he rounded the 'keeper but lost his balance with the ball heading away from Leverkusen's empty goal and fired the ball over the cross-bar.

Drogba did eventually give Chelsea the lead just after the break when he was once again found well by Sturridge in the Leverkusen box. Drogba controlled the ball expertly and with his back to goal managed to roll two Leverkusen defenders before excellently curling the ball into the far corner on the turn.

Ballack was then denied twice in quick succession by his former team-mate and, apparently, fellow Phantom of the Opera fan Petr Cech. First Ballack's acrobatic overhead kick was turned over the bar by Cech and then, from the resulting corner, Ballack turned and shot only to be denied bravely by the advancing Cech.

Leverkusen finally got the leveller that they deserved after Eren Derdiyok's missed touch from Gonzalo Castro's pass found it's way through to Sidney Sam. Sam was left free on the left-wing due to Branislav Ivanovic's poor positioning and he cleverly crossed over Cech to Derdiyok to head home with 17 minutes to play.

Leverkusen completed the win in the 91st minute as Castro's header was powered home by Manuel Friedrich who managed to get the better of Brazillian defender Alex. The win ensures Leverkusen's qualification and sets up a decider for the other qualification spot between Chelsea and Valencia on Tuesday 6th December.

Valencia will head in to that game with their tails up following their 7-0 demolition of Genk which owed much to captain Roberto Soldado's hat-trick and the creative play of Brazillian forward Jonas. Jonas opened the scoring for Valencia in the 10th minute and set up Soldado's first two goals with perfectly timed through balls which the Spanish striker calmly slotted home. Soldado had three and Valencia four after 35 minutes of the game and ensured that the game was wrapped up by half-time. Jonas then set up Pablo Hernandez for 5-0 before Aritz Aduriz's superb solo goal made it 6-0 to Valencia. Tino Costa completed the rout as he tucked in the rebound from Jonas' stinging effort.

Arsenal had a far better night than their London rivals and became the first Premier League team to qualify from their group thanks to a 2-1 win at the Emirates over Borussia Dortmund. Robin Van Persie extended his fine run of form for the Gunners by heading home his 16th goal of the season in the 49th minute following an excellent run from Alex Song down the left.

Van Persie made it 2-0 from two yards out when he was found unmarked in the Dortmund area with an open goal following Thomas Vermaelen's flick-on from Mikel Arteta's corner. Dortmund managed to pull one back late on thanks to Shinji Kagawa's effort but it was too little too late and the manner of the victory, as well as Song's excellent performance, will encourage Arsenal fans everywhere.

In the other game of Group F Marseille hosted Olympiakos with the Greek side coming out as winners by a goal to nil thanks to Giannis Fetfatzidis' superb strike in the 82nd minute. Arsenal now qualify as winners of the group with Marseille (second with 7 points) heading to Dortmund (bottom on 4 points) on the last matchday and Olympiakos (3rd with 6 points) hoping to overcome Arsenal at home in a fortnight's time and hope that results go their way in France.

The big game of the night and probably the round was held at the San Siro where AC Milan welcomed Barcelona. The game didn't disappoint with Barcelona coming out as eventual winners by 3 goals to 2. The combination of Mark Van Bommel and Xavi put the Spaniards ahead in the 14th minute with the former likely to be attributed an own goal for his efforts.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic restored balance just 6 minutes later as he scored against his former club by sweeping the ball beyond Victor Valdes after being found by Clarence Seedorf. Barca regained the lead in the 31st minute thanks to Lionel Messi's twice taken penalty following a tug from Alberto Aquillani on Xavi in the AC Milan area. Messi's first, staggered effort was ordered to be re-taken and the Argentine master confidently breezed his second attempt past Christian Abbiati in the AC Milan goal.

The goal of the night was then scored by former Portsmouth and Spurs midfielder Kevin Prince Boateng whose acrobatic touch plucked the ball out of the sky before his sublime flick on the run took him past his helpless Barcelona marker before he smashed the ball past Valdes and into the near post.

Barca sealed the win when Xavi was found delightfully by Messi's slide-rule through ball and the Spaniard comfortably stroked the ball past Abbiatti. The win means that Barca finish as Group H leaders and AC Milan qualify in second place whilst BATE Borisov and Viktoria Plzen fight it out for a place in the Europa League. Plzen beat BATE 1-0 away in Belarus last night to gain their first Champions League victory and put them in pole position to qualify for the Europa League.

In Group G Porto secured a vital victory over Shakhtar Donetsk thanks to two late goals for the Portuguese side that keeps their hopes of progression alive. Hulk gave Porto the lead in the 79th minute before a 90th minute Razvan Rat own goal ensured the victory for the away side.

In the group's other game APOEL secured unlikely progression to the last 16 with a brave 0-0 draw in St. Petersburg against Zenit. The home side dominated possession (63%) and had 23 shots on goal compared to APOEL's 1 but they couldn't find a goal despite their control. In qualifying APOEL become the first Cypriot team to advance to the knockout phases of the competition and it means that Zenit must beat Porto on matchday 6 to progress or the Portuguese side will go through.