Friday, Nov. 7, 2008

LONDON (AP) Alessandro Del Piero scored twice as Juventus beat Real Madrid 2-0 on Wednesday night and joined Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon in the elimination round of the Champions League.

Key man: Alessandro Del Piero of Juventus moves on the ball during Wednesday night's Champions League game at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Juve won 2-0. AP PHOTO

Defending champion Manchester United is almost through following Ryan Giggs' 84th-minute header in a 1-1 draw at Celtic. But two more group leaders, Bayern Munich and Arsenal, were also held to draws and still have work to do in their final two matches.

With new Argentina coach Diego Maradona watching to see some of his countrymen in action, Italian veteran Del Piero, who first played in a Champions League final 12 years ago, scored in the 17th and 67th minutes at Bernabeu Stadium to give Juventus 10 points from four games.

"I'm pleased to have scored in front of Maradona. I hope Diego comes to watch us play more often," Del Piero said.

Claudio Ranieri's team is four points ahead of Madrid and six ahead of Zenit St. Petersburg, which won 2-0 at BATE Borisov.

Although Zenit, last season's UEFA Cup winner, can reach 10 points by winning its last two games, Juventus is guaranteed of finishing in the top two spots in Group H because Madrid could only finish with a maximum of nine.

Celtic stunned Man United before the Scottish club's intimidating 60,000 fans in Glasgow when striker Scott McDonald scored in the 13th minute. It was the first goal Celtic had scored and the first United had conceded in Group E.

United dominated possession and finally broke through with six minutes to go when goalkeeper Artur Boruc failed to hold a swerving shot from Cristiano Ronaldo and Giggs headed home the rebound.

The draw means that United has eight points from four games, the same as Villarreal, which drew 2-2 at Aalborg. But Alex Ferguson's team still has a six-point lead over Celtic and Aalborg, has a better head-to-head record over the Scottish champion and could only be edged by the Danish team if it loses its final two games heavily and Aalborg wins twice by big margins.

Villarreal is almost there, too, but could miss out if it loses its last two games to Celtic and Man United.

Bayern Munich was held to a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina. The Bundesliga champions have eight points, the same as Lyon, which beat Steaua Bucharest 2-0.

Fiorentina has three points and can still advance, but Steaua cannot qualify.

Arsenal was held 0-0 at home by Fenerbahce just two weeks after winning 5-2 in Istanbul against the same opponents.

Arsene Wenger's team has eight points, two ahead of FC Porto, which won 2-1 at Dinamo Kiev. Kiev has five and is still in contention.

We welcome your opinions. Click to send a message to the editor.