UCL Round up: Arsenal stay alive, Zenith remain perfect, Chelsea; Barcelona and Bayern win big

Alexis Sanchez was involved in all three goals as Arsenal kept their hopes of Champions League progression alive with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Dinamo Zagreb. Having provided the assist for Mesut Ozil to open the scoring after 29 minutes, Sanchez found the net either side of half-time to wrap up a vital win.

The gunners who have qualified for 12 consecutive Champions League second round, must beat Olympiakos by 2 goal margin in Greece to qualify for the champions League knock-out stages.

Zenit 2 Valencia 0: Shatov makes it five from five for Villas-Boas´ men

Zenit made it five wins from five in the Champions League this season with a 2-0 victory over Valencia at the Petrovsky Stadium on Tuesday.

Oleg Shatov’s clever finish handed the Group H leaders the advantage after just 15 minutes and they rarely looked like surrendering it during a diligent display.

A superb team goal, finished by Artem Dzyuba, secured the victory for Andre Villas-Boas’ side before Ruben Vezo was sent off for bringing down Shatov as he raced clear on goal in the closing minutes.

The result puts more pressure on Valencia coach Nuno Espirito Santo and gives Gent the chance to leapfrog the Spanish club into second when they take on Lyon.

Maccabi Tel Aviv 0 Chelsea 4: Mourinho´s men overwhelm 10-man hosts

Chelsea eventually made their numerical advantage count as they inflicted a 4-0 Champions League defeat on 10-man Maccabi Tel Aviv.

It was a tale of two centre-backs during the first-half at the Sammy Ofer Stadium where, after Gary Cahill showed fine anticipation to open the scoring, former Chelsea man Tal Ben Haim made the hosts’ task even steeper by kicking out at Diego Costa and being sent off on the stroke of the interval.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Maccabi caused Chelsea some moments of discomfort as a tense Jose Mourinho saw his team’s early fluency desert them.

It was left to Willian, one of Chelsea’s star performers in their difficult campaign, to lift a customary free-kick over the defensive wall in the 73rd minute and beyond Predrag Rajkovic – the impressive Maccabi goalkeeper who was aggrieved to see Oscar net a powerful header from Baba Rahman’s cross four minutes later.

Oscar turned provider for Kurt Zouma, on for injured captain John Terry, to convert a stoppage-time corner to leave Chelsea with consecutive wins to their name for only the second time this season heading into Sunday’s Premier League London derby against Tottenham.

Dynamo Kiev’s 2-0 win at Porto means a three-way battle for qualification will be played out in the final round of group matches, with pointless Maccabi playing for pride

Porto 0 Dynamo Kiev 2: Visitors stay alive with win

Andriy Yarmolenko starred as Dynamo Kiev kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League round of 16 with an impressive 2-0 win at Porto.

Yarmolenko and Derlis Gonzalez grabbed the goals to secure the spoils at Estadio do Dragao, meaning Kiev sit two points behind joint leaders Porto and Chelsea in Group G going into the final matchday next month.

Bayern Munich 4 Olympiacos 0: First-half blitz too much for sorry Greeks

Bayern Munich secured top spot in Group F of the Champions League in emphatic fashion, recording a 4-0 victory over nearest rivals Olympiacos despite the dismissal of Holger Badstuber.

First-half goals from Douglas Costa, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller meant Pep Guardiola’s side had the three points wrapped up inside the first 20 minutes at the Allianz Arena.

The hosts were forced to play the majority of the second half with only 10 men, as Badstuber was sent off after bringing down Olympiacos forward Brown Ideye when he was through on goal.

Yet despite the numerical disadvantage, Bayern added a fourth goal through Kingsley Coman, taking their tally in this season’s competition to 17 goals in five matches.

Despite the heavy defeat, Olympiacos still control their own destiny in the battle to reach the knockout stages.

Barcelona 6 Roma 1: Messi, Suarez run riot

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez ran riot against Roma, helping Barcelona to a stunning 6-1 Champions League victory that assures them of first place in Group E with a game to spare.

Suarez opened the scoring after 15 minutes of the match at Camp Nou on Tuesday and Messi struck three minutes later on his return to the starting line-up.

The game was over as a contest just before half-time when Suarez scored a stunning volley, before Messi, Gerard Pique and Adriano added gloss to the scoreline in the second half.

BATE Borisov’s draw with Bayer Leverkusen earlier in the day meant Barca were already sure of a place in the last 16, but the victory means they have wrapped up top spot ahead of their final game against the Bundesliga side.

Lyon 1 Gent 2: Stoppage-time strike puts Fournier´s side out

Lyon bowed out of the Champions League after they were beaten 2-1 by Gent in France on Tuesday.

The home side – playing their final European game at the Stade de Gerland before leaving for the Stade des Lumieres – opened the scoring through Jordan Ferri’s close-range finish but a fine free-kick from Danijel Milicevic levelled the game before half-time.

Gent goalkeeper Matz Sels was fortunate not to be sent off for a handball and proceeded to frustrate Lyon for much of the second period, making a string of brilliant saves to keep the scores level.

Lyon dominated the majority of the closing stages but were unable to find the goal that would keep alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stage before their matchday six showdown with Valencia.

And Gent found a crucial winner in the dying seconds of injury time through substitute Kalifa Coulibaly, meaning they leapfrog Nuno Espirito Santo’s side into second place ahead of their meeting with runaway group leaders Zenit, while Lyon crash out of Europe altogether