UEFA Champions League: Arsenal, Chelsea make it to last 16 with wins in final group games

Premier League outfits Arsenal and Chelsea both avoided the embarrassment of playing in the UEFA Europa League on Wednesday, 9 December, with wins in their last Champions League group stage games to qualify for the last 16 stage of Europe's most prestigious club competition.

Arsenal, who needed to win by at least a two-goal margin against Olympiacos away from home, rode on a hattrick from French forward Olivier Giroud to clinch a comprehensive 3-0 win.

On the other hand, Jose Mourinho's struggling Chelsea side managed to beat Portuguese side Porto 2-0 at the Stamford Bridge to confirm their progression to the next round. With the win, Chelsea also finished at the top of their group with 13 points from the six games.

In other games, AS Roma played out a goalless draw with BATE Borisov to qualify for the next round, as Bayer Leverkusen failed to beat Barcelona. Valencia, meanwhile, joined Manchester United in the Europa League after they suffered a 2-0 loss at the hands of Lyon to finish third in their group.

The scores

Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 Barcelona

AS Roma 0-0 BATE Borisov

Dinamo Zagreb 0-2 Bayern Munich

Olympiacos 0-3 Arsenal

Chelsea 2-0 Porto

Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 Maccabi Tel Aviv

Gent 2-1 Zenit St. Petersburg

Valencia 0-2 Lyon