Chelsea and Barcelona lose as Milan put three past Celtic

Chelsea qualified for the Champions League knockout stages despite a limp performance as they were beaten by Basle for a second time in Group E.

Mohamed Salah’s fine goal three minutes from time earned Basle a deserved 1-0 victory at St Jakob Park and completed a double over Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, who had travelled to Switzerland needing just a point to advance and a win to claim top spot in the pool.

However, Schalke’s 0-0 draw at Steaua Bucharest means the Blues advance to the last 16 ahead of the December 11 meeting at home to the Romanians.

The Blues, who have nine matches next month, last season suffered the ignominy of becoming the first winners to exit the tournament at the group stage in defence of their title, before responding by beating Basle in the semi-finals en route to winning the Europa League.

This season, in the premier tournament, Basle have exacted a semblance of revenge.

Murat Yakin’s side were out to prove their win at Stamford Bridge was not a one-off as the Swiss sought a place in the knockout stages, or at least the Europa League.

Mourinho promised a different Chelsea to the one which lost in the opening group game, but saw his side outplayed.

Jack Wilshere scored both goals as Arsenal beat Marseille 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium to all but secure a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

England midfielder Wilshere showed no signs of any fatigue as he swept the Barclays Premier League leaders ahead after just 28 seconds.

Although club-record signing Mesut Ozil missed a first-half penalty, another close-range effort from Wilshere made sure of victory to keep the Gunners top of Group F.

A draw on matchday six away to Napoli, who lost 3-1 at Borussia Dortmund, will now see Arsene Wenger’s men qualify in first place and seeded for the last 16 - or indeed even a defeat could also be enough to go through on head-to-head record and goal difference.

Celtic crashed out of Europe after a thumping 3-0 defeat by AC Milan in their Champions League Group H clash at Parkhead.

With Ajax beating Barcelona 2-1 at the Amsterdam ArenA, the Scottish champions do not even have the safety net of the Europa League this season.

Brazilian star Kaka put the visitors ahead in the 13th minute when he headed a Valter Birsa corner past Hoops goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

Celtic defender Virgil van Dijk missed a sitter at the start of the second half when he blasted a shot straight at Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati, a minute before Rossoneri defender Cristian Zapata made it 2-0 from close range.

Mario Balotelli, in one of his more productive moods, scored a third with a drive on the hour mark to compound the misery of the home side who were made to pay for missing several chances.

Celtic remain bottom of the pool with three points from five games and their final fixture at the Nou Camp next month will be for pride only.

Schalke slipped up in their bid to move one step closed to qualification from Champions League Group E after they were held to a goalless draw by Steaua Bucharest.

The draw, and Basle’s 1-0 win over group leaders Chelsea, means Schalke slipped to third in the group and have it all to do in their final pool game which is a winner-takes-all tie against the Swiss side on December 11.

Romanian champions Steaua have been in impressive form this season despite being bottom of the group, as they are are undefeated in the league and have qualified for the Romanian Cup quarter-finals for the first time since winning the competition in 2010/11.

That form showed in Bucharest as they kept the German visitors at bay, although their late efforts to snatch a win and keep their hopes of progression alive were extinguished by the visitors.

Borussia Dortmund ended a worrying run of form with a vital 3-1 win at home to Napoli in Group F of the Champions League.

Juergen Klopp’s highly-fancied BvB had lost three matches in a row, and another defeat would have seen last season’s finalists dumped out of Europe’s premier club competition.

But Marco Reus proved his worth with an early penalty after Robert Lewandowski was fouled, and he set up Jakub Blaszczykowski for a breakaway second on the hour mark.

Napoli pulled one back when Lorenzo Insigne scored just after coming off the bench, but fellow substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang restored the two-goal advantage with a cool finish.

The result means Dortmund join Napoli on nine points with one match remaining, as leaders Arsenal move on to 12 ahead of an interesting final matchday.

Zenit St Petersburg enjoyed a huge slice of fortune but have still yet to book their place in the last 16 of the Champions League after a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid.

Atletico had already qualified from Group G but Zenit failed to take advantage and second place is still up for grabs between the Russians and FC Porto.

While Zenit enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, Atletico were clinical, Adrian pouncing to put them ahead in the 53rd minute.

However, an absolute fluke goal - when highly-rated goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois completely miscalculated a straightforward tip-over from Toby Alderweireld’s defensive header - saved Zenit in the 74th minute.

While Atletico had gone already made it through, Zenit had lost both their home games in the competition and had just five points to lie in second place, one ahead of FC Porto.

Zenit’s domestic form has also dropped off with just one point from their last three league games and without a win in their last five games in all competitions.

Porto’s hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout stages were dealt a major blow as they could only draw at home to Austria Vienna.

Paulo Fonseca’s side were made to pay for a slow start as Roman Kienast smashed in Vienna’s first goal of the group stage so far after 11 minutes.

Porto dominated thereafter but only had Jackson Martinez’s header shortly after half-time to show for it by the end when they were booed from the pitch by the home fans.

That meant they failed to capitalise on second-placed Zenit St Petersburg’s earlier 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid to leave the Portuguese side a point adrift.

With a trip to Atletico to come to round out their campaign, Porto face the prospect of dropping into the Europa League.

Ajax produced a superb win over Barcelona to keep alive their hopes of qualifying from Champions League Group H.

Ajax took a shock 2-0 half-time lead as both Thulani Serero and Danny Hoesen netted their first European goals.

Xavi scored a penalty after Joel Veltman was sent off but Ajax withstood fierce pressure in the remainder of the second half.

With AC Milan beating Celtic in the other game in the group, the result was vital for Ajax and they now face the Italians in their final game with the winners reaching the knockout stages.

The losers of that game will play in the Europa League, with Celtic eliminated from Europe with a game to spare.

Yesterday’s Champions League results
Basel - Chelsea    0-1
Steaua Bucuresti - Schalke 04    0-0
Arsenal - Marseille    2-0
Borussia Dortmund - Napoli    3-1
Zenit Petersburg - Atletico M.    1-1
FC Porto - Austria Wien    1-1
Ajax - Barcelona    2-1
Celtic - AC Milan    0-3

Today's Champions League matches
Bayern L. - Manchester United
Shakhtar Donetsk - Real Sociedad
Juventus - FC Kobenhavn
Real Madrid - Galatasaray
Anderlecht - Benfica
Paris Saint Germain - Olympiakos
CSKA Moscow - Bayern Munich
Manchester City - Viktoria Plzen