Soccer: Leverkusen eye treble

Bayer Leverkusen’s treble bid remained alive after they defeated under-strength Deportivo La Coruna to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.

The 3-1 Group D win in northern Spain meant Arsenal’s hopes of becoming the third English team to reach the last eight were ended, and the Gunners lost 1-0 at Juventus as their campaign ended miserably.

Leverkusen are leading the Bundesliga and are through to the final of the DFK Pokal, and are now on course for European glory.

Panathinaikos reached the quarter-finals from Group C, having drawn 2-2 with Real Madrid in Athens, with rivals Porto losing 2-0 against Sparta Prague.

The key match to the outcome of Group D was at the Riazor where Depor coach Javier Irureta rested a host of his top players, starting the game with Diego Tristan, Sergio, Fran and Juan Carlos Valeron on the bench.

His side did not need to win the match, having already ensured their qualification ahead of the final round of games, and it was the Germans who dominated.

Michael Ballack powered home a 34th-minute header for the opening goal and Bernd Schneider bundled their second over the line in the 53rd minute.

Deportivo got a goal back with 15 minutes left to play when substitute Tristan’s angled shot took a wicked deflection off Diego Placente and deceived Jorg Butt in the Germans’ goal.

But Oliver Neuville headed a third goal for the Germans in the 86th minute to kill off any hopes of a Depor comeback.

Panathinaikos needed just a point to be sure of their qualification and were always comfortable against a Real Madrid team missing many of the club’s star names.

Roberto Carlos, Raul, Fernando Hierro, Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo were all absent and the Greeks went ahead in the ninth minute through Nikos Liberopoulos.

Fernando Morientes, surprisingly excluded from the Real team which drew 1-1 at Barcelona on Saturday night, notched an equaliser two minutes later before Ioannis Goumas put the home side back in front after 64 minutes.

Javier Portillo marked his debut with a goal for Real 10 minutes from the end, but they could not muster another to maintain their 100% record in the second stage.

Porto needed victory and a defeat for Panathinaikos to earn a place in the last eight, but were sunk by second-half strikes from Libor Sionko and Jiri Jarosik.