Liverpool book Champions seat, only one left

Former European champions Liverpool along with Boavista, Nantes and Galatasaray all celebrated on Tuesday as they secured their places in the second phase of the Champions League.

Fifteen of the 16 qualifiers are now known with the line-up to be completed on Wednesday when the first phase is concluded.

Liverpool comfortably beat 1997 winners Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Anfield to secure first place in group B and qualified along with Boavista despite the Portuguese champions losing 1-0 at Dynamo Kiev.

Goals from Czech international Vladimir Smicer (15) and a header from, young defender Stephen Wright (82) -- his first senior goal for the club -- gave Liverpool a well-deserved win and a boost for coach Gerard Houllier, who is in hospital recovering from heart surgery.

Phil Thompson, Houllier's assistant who is taking charge of the team, said afterwards: "It was a perfect evening, that's for you, Gerard. I'm absolutely thrilled for him. He loves European football, loves the Champions League and it's right that we'll still be in it when he's ready to come back."

Boavista joined Liverpool in the last 16 by finishing second on goal difference ahead of Dortmund, who move into the UEFA Cup. Kiev were eliminated.

Liverpool finished with 12 points, followed by Boavista and Borussia, both on eight, and Kiev on four.

Kiev bowed out of the tournament with their first win thanks to a scrappy goal from Olexander Melashchenko three minutes after the break.

NANTES THROUGH

Nantes, who are bottom of the French first division with just one win, continued on their schizophrenic way by taking first place in group D with a 1-0 win over Lazio.

The only goal came 18 minutes from time from Pierre-Yves Andre and helped decide the section in which all four teams could still have qualified for the second phase.

Lazio went into the game looking to become the first team in the 10-season history of the competition to qualify for the next phase after losing their three opening games, but they failed to pull off that astonishing feat and were instead eliminated.

Nantes were joined in the last 16 instead by 2000 UEFA Cup winners Galatasaray, who beat PSV Eindhoven 2-0 with goals from Sergen Yalcin (26) and Arif Erdem (50).

Nantes finished first with 11 points followed by Galatasaray (10), PSV (7) and Lazio (6) with PSV at least having the consolation of a UEFA Cup.

The qualifiers from groups A and C were already decided before Tuesday's games.

The issues at stake in those groups involved UEFA Cup qualifiers and in group A Lokomotiv Moscow beat group winners Real Madrid 2-0 to seal their place in the secondary competition, while second-placed AS Roma drew 1-1 with Anderlecht, who were eliminated.

ARSENAL CRASH

Arsenal, who were already through from group C, crashed 3-1 at Schalke 04 and had Oleg Luzhny sent off after only 16 minutes.

He became the fifth Arsenal player sent off this season and the 37th since Arsene Wenger became manager five years ago.

Goals from Youri Mulder (2), Sven Vermant (59) and Andi Moeller (63) put Schalke in a commanding position as they chased third spot, and even Sylvain Wiltord's 70th minute consolation for the Gunners did not prevent them taking three points.

Arsenal have now lost seven of their last eight away matches in the competition.

But the win was not enough for the Germans as Real Mallorca beat Panathinaikos 1-0 to seal third place.

Leo Biagini (57) scored the only goal of the game but although they finished level with Arsenal on nine points, Arsenal qualified as they had a better head-to-head record against the Spanish side.

With 15 of the second phase teams already known, the last remaining qualifier will be decided on Wednesday as Porto, Celtic and Rosenborg Trondheim battle it out for second place in group E behind already-qualified Juventus.