Valdez double sees Bremen through as Valencia crash out

WERDER BREMEN clinched their place in the last 16 of the Champions League when two late strikes by substitute Nelson Valdez secured a 2-0 win at Claudio Raineri's Valencia in Group G.

The Paraguayan striker grabbed his first seven minutes from time when he rounded keeper Santiago Canizares to end Valencia's hopes of staying in the competition and he compounded their misery with a second goal in injury time.

The victory ensured the German champions would progress alongside group winners Inter Milan to the next round, while Valencia will have to be satisfied with the consolation of defending their UEFA Cup crown. Valencia, needing to win 1-0 or by a margin of two goals to make the next round, were unable to break down the well organised Werder defence, marshalled by the outstanding Frank Baumann.

Also in Group G Inter Milan made sure of the top spot with two goals from Nigerian Obafemi Martins helping them to a comfortable 3-0 win over Anderlecht who finished bottom of the group without a point.

Argentine Julio Ricardo Cruz put already qualified Inter, unbeaten in all competitions this season, ahead in the 33rd minute after a smart exchange with Uruguayan Alvaro Recoba.

But it was the long ball that exposed the Belgian side after the break with Edgar Davids sending Martins on his way in the 60th minute. The Nigerian showed a good touch to beat Anderlecht defender Lamine Traore and fire home. Three minutes later Martins produced another cool finish after racing on to a long ball from Turkish substitute Emre Belozoglu.

In Glasgow Celtic's Group F, Shakhtar Donetsk beat an under-strength Barcelona team 2-0 in their final pool match to secure a UEFA Cup spot.

A first-half double by Nigerian striker Julius Aghahowa allowed the Ukrainians to leapfrog Celtic into third place with six points. The Scottish club were held to a scoreless draw by group winners AC Milan in Glasgow.

Barcelona, who had already qualified for the knockout round, remained in second place on 10 points, three behind Milan.

Two goals from German midfielder Markus Munch led Panathinaikos to a 4-1 win over PSV Eindhoven but it was not enough to see the Greek side through to the next stage of the Champions League.

Arsenal's win over Rosenborg meant they finished top of Group E with PSV, who had already qualified, taking second place.

Panathinaikos finished third to qualify for the last 32 of the UEFA Cup.

Munch scored the first of his two goals from the penalty spot just before halftime after Dimitris Papadopoulos had scored the opener for Panathinaikos, only for Da Marcus Beasley to level for PSV.

Munch grabbed his second in the 58th minute after beating two defenders and firing in off the post. Mark Van Bommel missed a penalty for PSV and Lucian Sanmartean completed the scoring for Panathinaikos nine minutes from time.

CSKA Moscow captain Sergei Semak hit a hat-trick in a 3-1 defeat of Paris St Germain, but a late goal in Porto denied the Russian team a place in the knockout stages.

Despite being reduced to 10 men, CSKA looked set to qualify in second place in Group H behind Chelsea but European champions Porto snatched a last-gasp 2-1 victory over the English club to pip them to the runners-up spot.

The visitors dominated the match from the start and Semak opened the scoring with a close-range effort just before the half-hour. PSG equalised with their first attempt on goal with striker Fabrice Pancrate finding the net after 37 minutes.

Semak got his second goal nine minutes later and put the victory beyond doubt with a third after 70 minutes. The late Porto goal means CSKA go into the last 32 of the UEFA Cup.