Champions joy for Panathinaikos, Arsenal, Roma

Panathinaikos, Arsenal and AS Roma became the latest teams to reach the second phase of the Champions League on Wednesday but seven of the eight sides in groups B and D are still in contention with one match to go.

Panathinaikos secured top spot in group C with a solid 2-0 home win over Schalke 04.

Clinical finishing from forwards Emmanuel Olisadebe and Michalis Konstantinou took the Greeks to 12 points and although Arsenal could match that total, Panathinaikos would stay top because of the away goal they scored at Highbury.

Arsenal looked set to be ruing another home goal conceded in what turned out to be a dramatic match against Real Mallorca.

Two goals in two minutes from Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp midway through the second half appeared to have given Arsenal the two-goal victory they needed to advance but Alvaro Novo pulled one back in the 74th minute.

That meant the Gunners might still have needed a point from their final game against Schalke 04 to make certain of qualifying but Thierry Henry then scored a third in injury time to send them through to the second stage.

Everyone was happy at The Bernabeu where Real Madrid and Roma drew 1-1.

For the Spaniards, who were already through, the victory guaranteed top spot while it was also enough to secure second place for Roma after Anderlecht fell to a shock 5-1 home defeat at the hands of Lomomotiv Moscow.

The Italian champions had looked like handing Real their first European defeat of the season after Francesco Totti stabbed in from close range on 35 minutes but Real equalised with a Luis Figo penalty 15 minutes from time.

There was an added bonus for Real with the return to action of the world's most expensive player, Zinedine Zidane, following his five-match European ban, collected while playing for Juventus last season.

Pole Position

Lokomotiv had managed just one point from their first four games but found their touch in Brussels to move above Anderlecht into third place and pole position for the UEFA Cup spot it provides.

Maxim Buzmikin scored Lokomotiv's fourth and fifth goals to cap a remarkable turnaround after Alexsander Ilic had given Anderlecht a second-minute lead.

Real and Sparta Prague qualified last week while six more clubs joined them on Tuesday -- defending champions Bayern Munich, fellow Germans Bayer Leverkusen, Manchester United, Deportivo Coruna, Juventus and Barcelona.

With three more clubs qualifying on Wednesday, that means 11 of the 16 second-phase teams are known but it is anyone's guess which four will join them from groups B and D.

The 16 will be completed by one team from group E.

Boavista and Liverpool drew 1-1 in Oporto to leave the English club top of group B on nine points, one ahead of Boavista and Borussia Dortmund, who beat Dynamo Kiev 1-0 with an excellent goal by Tomas Rosicky.

Liverpool can qualify with a draw against Dortmund at Anfield next week while a win for Boavista in Kiev would ensure their passage.

Group D is even closer with all four teams hopeful of reaching the second phase going into the final two matches.

Nantes lead the group on eight points after a goalless draw at PSV Eindhoven, who have seven.

Galatasaray are third, also on seven, after losing 1-0 at Lazio, substitute Dejan Stankovic hitting the only goal 14 minutes from time.

The Italians, who lost their first three games of the campaign, have now won two in a row to move to six points but they need another win at Nantes to get through.

Nantes, bottom of the French league, need only draw.

Galatasaray host PSV in their last match where a win for either would guarantee qualification.

Pictures of the UEFA Champions League