Barcelona, Valencia advance in Champions League

PARIS — Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Shakhtar Donetsk and Valencia reached the knockout stage of the Champions League on Tuesday, while Chelsea is on the verge of becoming the first titleholder to fail to make it out of the group stage.

Already under pressure in the Premier League after a four-game winless run, Chelsea lost 3-0 at Juventus to drop to third in Group E behind Shakhtar and Juve and place manager Roberto di Matteo under increasing pressure.

Fabio Quagliarella and Arturo Vidal – both on target for Juventus in the 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge – again scored against a Chelsea team without the dropped Fernando Torres and injured John Terry.

Substitute Sebastian Giovinco capped the victory with a goal in the final minute. Shakhtar showed it is a force to be reckoned with after a crushing 5-2 win over FC Nordsjaelland, with Luiz Adriano scoring a hat trick and Willian grabbing two goals.

Chelsea has to beat Nordsjaelland and for Shakhtar to defeat Juventus to go through at Juve’s expense.

Barcelona advanced for the ninth straight season after defeating Spartak Moscow 3-0 in Group G with Lionel Messi scoring another two goals to close to within five of Gerd Mueller’s single-year record of 85. “Messi is a perfect player, maybe the best player in the world right now,” Spartak coach Unai Emery said.