Story highlights
Real Madrid reach knockout stage with 2-0 victory away to Lyon
Cristiano Ronaldo scores 100th goal for Spanish club after his double
Bayern Munich stay top of Group A, while Inter Milan lead Group B
Manchester United join Benfica on eight points at the head of Group C
Cristiano Ronaldo continued his battle for scoring supremacy with fellow superstar Lionel Messi with two more goals as Real Madrid reached the last 16 of the European Champions League on Wednesday.
While Messi passed the 200 mark for Barcelona with a hat-trick on Tuesday that put the titleholders into the knockout stage, Ronaldo’s double in the 2-0 win against Lyon gave him 100 since moving to the Spanish capital in mid-2009.
It was Real’s first triumph in the French city in five attempts, and gave Jose Mourinho’s team a perfect four wins from four in Group D – with no goals conceded.
Ronaldo broke the deadlock with a swerving free-kick in the 24th minute, a fitting way to bring up the nine-time European champions’ 900th score in the competition.
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The Portugal forward doubled the lead with 21 minutes to play from the penalty spot after going down under the challenge of Mouhamadou Dabo, while the hosts hit the bar through Jimmy Briand’s header.
Lyon, seeking to reach the last 16 for the ninth successive season, suffered a first home defeat in 24 matches and now trail second-placed Ajax by three points ahead of the Dutch club’s visit later this month.
The Amsterdam side moved up to seven points with a 4-0 win at home to pointless Dinamo Zagreb.
Gregory van der Wiel and Miralem Sulejmani finished off fine team moves inside the opening 25 minutes, while second-half goals from Siem de Jong and substitute Nicolas Lodeiro killed off the Croatians.
Messi hat-trick puts Barcelona into last 16
Bayern Munich stayed top of Group A with a 3-2 win at home to Napoli, which featured a first-half hat-trick from Germany striker Mario Gomez, a broken collarbone for key midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and two red cards.
The Italians pulled one back before the break through Federico Fernandez, but after Bayern lost Schweinsteiger on 53, the visitors had Juan Zuniga sent off in the 70th minute for a second booking.
The Germans had defender Holger Badstuber sent off for a second yellow card, and defender Fernandez capitalized with his second goal soon after, but Gomez was denied a 20th this season – this time from the halfway line as goalkeeper Morgan de Sanctis was forced to scramble back desperately.
Manchester City beat struggling Spanish side Villarreal 3-0 to move up to second place on seven points – three behind Bayern and two ahead of Napoli.
Midfielder Yaya Toure scored his first goals since City’s FA Cup final win in May, sidefooting home from the edge of the box after David Silva created space for him on the half hour and then again in the second half after waltzing into the area following a pass from Mario Balotelli.
Balotelli had made it 2-0 in first-half stoppage time after earning a hotly-disputed penalty.
Inter Milan edged closer to a second-round place with a 2-1 win at home to French champions Lille that left the 2009 European titleholders top of Group B.
Walter Samuel headed in an 18th-minute corner and Diego Milito made up for three bad first-half misses when he converted a cross from captain Javier Zanetti on 65. Claudio Ranieri’s team have now won more matches in Europe this season than domestically in Serie A.
Tulio De Melo netted a late consolation for Lille, who ended the match bottom of the table on two points.
Trabzonspor and CSKA Moscow both have five points after a goalless draw in Turkey, which the Russians finished with 10 men as Ivory Coast striker Seydou Doumbia was sent off for a second booking.
Manchester United joined Benfica on eight points at the top of Group C after beating Romanian minnows Otelul Galati 2-0 for the second match in a row.
Last season’s runners-up took an eighth-minute lead through winger Antonio Valencia, while Cristian Sarghi scored a late own-goal when he deflected in a shot by England striker Wayne Rooney – who scored both times in the first fixture.
“They made it difficult for us,” said United manager Alex Ferguson, who celebrates 25 years in charge at Old Trafford this weekend.
Benfica could only draw 1-1 at home to Basel despite taking a fourth-minute lead through Rodrigo’s volley.
Benjamin Huggel’s 64th-minute equalizer put the Swiss side on five points ahead of the trip to Galati later this month, while Portugal’s Benfica travel to England.