Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (second from right) celebrates his goal against Lyon with teammates on Wednesday. (AP-Yonhap News)
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice to reach 100 goals for Real Madrid and help the nine-time winners advanced to the knockout phase of the Champions League with a 2-0 victory at Lyon on Wednesday night.
Real Madrid joined defending champion Barcelona and AC Milan in the final 16.
Manchester United took over the Group C lead with a 2-0 victory over Otelul Galati at Old Trafford on goals by Antonio Valencia and Wayne Rooney. Manchester City won 3-0 at Villarreal to move into second in Group A as Yaya Toure scored twice and Mario Balotelli converted a penalty kick, Mario Gomez scored three goals in the first half to lead Bayern Munch to a 3-2 victory at home against Napoli.
In his 105th match for Madrid, Ronaldo curled in a free kick in the 24th minute and scored his 100th goal with a penalty kick in the 70th after being fouled by Mouhamadou Dabo.
“We played well but it was a difficult game against a tough team,” Ronaldo said. “We are happy that we’re through.”
Real Madrid (4-0), the only team to wins all its matches, leads Group D followed by Ajax (2-1-1), Lyon (1-2-1) and Dinamo Zagreb (0-4). Ajax won 4-0 at home over Dinamo on goals by Gregory van der Wiel, Miralem Sulejmani, Siem de Jong and Nicolas Lodeiro.
Ronaldo’s former club, Manchester United improved to 2-0-2 when Valencia tapped in Phil Jones’ cross in the eighth minute and Rooney scored in the 87th on a 30-yard shot that deflected off Cristian Sarghi.
“The opposition were very aggressive, they defended well, pressed us everywhere and made it difficult for us,” said Alex Ferguson, who marks his 25th anniversary as United manager on Sunday. “The win makes it more comfortable for us at the top of the group.”
Basel’s Park Joo-ho (front) and Benfica’s Bruno Cesar challenge for the ball. (AP-Yonhap News)
Benfica (2-0-2) dropped to second on goal difference with a 1-1 tie with Basel (1-1-2). Otelul Galati (0-4) is last. At Lisbon, Rodrigo scored for the hosts in the fourth minute but Benjamin Huggel’s goal in the 64th prevented Benfica for clinching advancement.
At Villarreal, Toure scored in the 30th and 71st minutes around Mario Balotelli’s penalty kick in the 45th for Manchester City (2-1-1). The only bump City experienced came when Roberto Mancini hit his head on the underside of the dugout just before Toure’s opener. While the City manager initially refused treatment, he eventually was seen sitting in the dugout with an ice pack on his head.
In Munich, Gomez scored in the 17th, 23rd and 42nd minutes for Bayern (3-0-1), which leads Group A. Federico Fernandez got goals in the 45th and 79th minutes for Napoli (1-1-2). Napoli’s Juan Zuniga was ejected in the 70th and Bayern’s Holger Badstuber in the 77th, both after getting their second yellow cards.
Group B leader Inter Milan (3-1) won 2-1 over Lille (0-2-2), as second-place CSKA Moscow (1-1-2) was held to a 0-0 draw by Trabzonspor (1-1-2). At San Siro, goals by Walter Samuel in the 18th minute and Diego Milito in the 65th built a 2-0 lead before Tulio De Melo scored for the visitors in the 83rd. Inter only needs a point from its last two matches to advance. (AP)
