Manchester City crashed out of Europe on Tuesday as Borussia Dortmund ended their hopes of qualifying for the Europa League. Elsewhere, Arsenal failed to secure top spot in Group B - and a potentially easier draw in the last-16 - as more pressure fell the way of Arsene Wenger.Roberto Mancini's
Manchester City - already heading out of the Champions League - needed to win in
Dortmund and hope that Ajax failed to do likewise in Spain, in order to earn a second chance in the Europa League. However, Dortmund were much the better side on home soil, inflicting a third defeat on City as they won 1-0 through Julian Schieber. Both teams did not field their first-choice XIs, with Sergio Aguero a notable absentee for City alongside injury and suspension victims David Silva and Yaya Toure. Dortmund, meanwhile, did not start Robert Lewandowski - strongly linked to a future move to Manchester United.It took 12 minutes for the first shot in anger, Oliver Kirch sending a 25-yard effort down the throat of Joe Hart, but City did show promise through Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko up front. However, they fell behind early in the second period when Schieber tapped home at the back post, and City needed three fine stops from Hart to prevent Dortmund scoring another. Aguero saw his effort blocked as City looked for a way back into the match, but they were deservedly beaten.Dortmund's win meant
Real Madrid could only finish second in Group D, regardless of their 4-1 victory over
Ajax at the Bernabeu. Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Jose Callejon (2) and Kaka eased some of the negative tension currently surrounding Jose Mourinho, whose side are well off the pace in La Liga. Madrid were fast into their stride on home soil, with Karim Benzema finding the net after six minutes, only to see his effort chalked off for offside following good work between Ronaldo and Kaka. Moments later Ajax enjoyed another let-off when Fabio Coentrao hit a post from Luka Modric's pass.Modric's next involvement did lead to a goal as he released Benzema, who squared for Ronaldo to score after 13 minutes. Madrid then doubled their advantage through a brilliantly taken outside-of-the-boot strike from Callejon, again from Modric's assist. Kaka soon made it three with another sweet finish, before Derk Boerrigter netted a consolation for Ajax. The final say came from Callejon, who completed the scoring in the dying minutes.
Arsenal finish second in Group B and face a potentially tougher last-16 draw after they were beaten 2-1 by
Olympiakos in Greece. The Gunners could have finished top had they won and Schalke failed to match their result at Montpellier, but that scenario failed to materialise for Arsene Wenger.
Olympiakos came from behind against Arsenal
© PA Photos
The Arsenal boss left out plenty of his established names, making seven changes from the side that lost to Swansea, with Jack Wilshere, Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski all missing as youngster Jernade Meade came in at left-back.Arsenal's first clear opening fell the way of Aaron Ramsey, who failed miserably when he kicked against his standing leg from 12 yards. Marouane Chamakh was then released behind the Olympiakos defence but he too made a poor attempt to round the home goalkeeper.Tomas Rosicky eventually handed the Gunners a lead seven minutes before the break, but Olympiakos hit back through Giannis Maniatis and Kostas Mitroglou.
Schalke completed an impressive group stage campaign by staying undefeated at
Montpellier, drawing 1-1 in France. Benedikt Howedes ensured the Germans advanced to the knockout phase with three wins and three draws from their six games. In Group A,
PSG will head into the last-16 draw as group winners after they beat
Porto 2-1 in Paris. Porto needed to avoid defeat to top the group, but they failed due to goals from Thiago Silva and Ezequiel Lavazzi.
Dynamo Kiev had already sealed the Europa League place, so little was riding on their 1-1 draw with
Dinamo Zagreb. Andriy Yarmolenko scored the opener, but Zagreb pegged them back through a 90th-minute Ivan Krstanovic penalty. The only issue to settle in Group C was the destination of the Europa League place, taken by
Zenit St Petersburg, who beat
AC Milan 1-0. Milan were already guaranteed second spot, but Zenit led Anderlecht only by virtue of goal difference in the race for third and needed Danny's strike.
Anderlecht could not apply pressure to their rivals as they drew with group winners
Malaga 2-2 at La Rosaleda. Two goals from Sergio Duda ensured Malaga headed into the last-16 with 12 points from six games.
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