Drogba magic sees Chelsea through to last sixteen

Didier Drogba rolled back the years with two goals as Chelsea eased the pressure on manager Andre Villas-Boas with a 3-0 victory over Valencia that sees them qualify from Group E of the Champions League in top spot.

Didier Drogba moments before his goal for Chelsea
Didier Drogba moments before his goal for Chelsea

Drogba opened the score from close range after just three minutes to set them on their way, before Ramires capitalised on a moment of laziness from Victor Ruiz for the second midway through the first half.
Having been set free by a glorious through-ball from Juan Mata with 15 minutes remaining, the Ivorian made no mistake to wrap up a significant victory for the Blues, one that, coupled with Genk's draw with Bayer Leverkusen, saw them win Group E.
Bayer Leverkusen overturned an early deficit against Genk, but were held to a draw in Belgium in Tuesday's Champions League Group E match.
Jelle Vossen stunned the visitors on 30 minutes as he fired home a swerving volley and the Belgians entered the half-time break with an advantage. With 11 minutes remaining, Eren Derdiyok restored parity.
In Group F, Arsene Wenger tasted defeat in his 200th European game as Arsenal lost 3-1 to Olympiakos as goals from Rafik Djebbour, David Fuster and Francois Modesto doomed them to defeat in Greece whilst Yossi Benayoun grabbed a consolation goal.
The hosts took the lead when Djebbour was put behind the Gunners defence and knocked the ball past Lukasz Fabianski who rushed out of his net to try and stop the striker.
Fuster doubled Olympiaskos' lead in the 36th minute pouncing on a mistake by Arsenal sub keeper Vito Mannone as his volley evaded the feet of the Italian when he was well placed to catch the ball.
Benayoun got the visitors back into the game with a scorching volley after linking up well with Marouane Chamakh's chest down to him on the edge of the 18-yard box which was the high point for a disappointing night for the Gunners.
Modesto made sure of the victory in 89th minute tapping in from close range but it was not enough to advance the hosts to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Dortmund fell to Marseille 3-2 at the Signal Iduna park, as two late goals sealed a comeback from two goals down for the French side, who go into the Round of 16 alongside Arsenal as the representatives from Group F.
The hosts needed to win by four clear goals and also hope for an Arsenal victory at Olympiacos in the other group fixture, and a Jakub Blaszczykowski goal coupled with a penalty by Mats Hummels gave the Bundesliga side hope. However, a header by Loic Remy on the stroke of half-time made things difficult, before Andre Ayew and Mathieu Valbuena popped up with two late goals to secure their passage to the next stage and dump Jurgen Klopp's men out of European competition altogether.
A display that brought back fine memories from last season's Europa League winning campaign was not enough for Porto to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League, as a 0-0 stalemate against Zenit St Petersburg at the Estadio do Dragao yesterday evening sees the Russians progress to the last 16.
Shakhtar Donetsk secured all three points with a 2-0 victory over APOEL in a Champions League encounter of little significance in Nicosia.
The visitors took a well deserved lead in the 62nd minute when Willian played a slick pass to Vyacheslav Shevchuk inside the area who slotted the ball across the goal into the path of Luiz Adriano, who did well to clip the ball past Pardo.
The game looked out of APOEL's reach in the 79th minute when Fernandinho unleashed a rocket that could only be fumbled by Pardo into the path of Yevhen Seleznyov, who coolly slotted the ball round the helpless keeper and into the net.
In Group G, Goals from from Sergi Roberto, Martin Montoya, and a Pedro double helped a youthful Barcelona comfortably dispatch BATE Borisov 4-0 to conclude Champions League Group H.
Viktoria Plzen claimed third place Champions League Group H and a spot in the Europa League after securing a dramatic 2-2 draw with AC Milan.
Late, late goals from David Bystron and Michal Duris cancelled out Alexandre Pato and Robinho's earlier strikes as the hosts completed a stunning late comeback in Prague.