Chelsea's Didier Drogba (left), and Real Betis' goalkeeper, Pedro Contreras, argue during their Champions League Group G match at the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera Stadium in Seville, southern Spain, yesterday. - REUTERS
LONDON (AP):
REAL MADRID and Lyon reached the knockout stage of the Champions League with victories yesterday.
Playing in Group F, Lyon won at Olympiakos 4-1 - the fourth victory in four games for the French champions.
Nine-time winners Real Madrid won 2-0 at Rosenborg, improving to nine points.
Rosenborg and Olympiakos were eliminated from reaching the next stage.
CHELSEA BEATEN
Real Betis pulled off the shock of the night, upsetting English champions Chelsea 1-0. It was Chelsea's first loss in the competition and only their second in 16 games overall this season.
Chelsea were ousted from England's League Cup last week, losing to Charlton on a penalty shootout following a draw in regulation and extra time.
Thoroughly beaten 4-0 at Chelsea two weeks ago, Betis notched the victory on Dani Martin's goal in the 28th minute at Seville's Manuel Ruiz de Lopera stadium.
"We have nothing to argue with, we have no defence because the performance in the first half was too bad," Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said. "Betis deserved the victory because of their attitude in the first half, and how they defended in the second half.
"We are a great team," he added. "We weren't a great team tonight, but if we are a great team we have to return to our standards."
LIVERPOOL IMPROVES
In the other Group G game, defending champions Liverpool beat Anderlecht 3-0 on goals from Fernando Morientes, Luis Garcia and Djibril Cisse.
Liverpool improved to 10 points to lead the group. Chelsea, the league leaders in England, stayed on seven points with Betis moving up to six. Had Chelsea won, Liverpool and the Blues would have reached the knockout stage.
Two games remain in the group stage. The top two teams in each of the eight groups advance to the knockout round of 16.
Also, it was: PSV Eindhoven 1, AC Milan 0, and Schalke 2, Fenerbahce 0 in Group E; Artmedia Bratislava 2, Rangers 2, and Inter Milan 2, FC Porto 1 in Group H.
Lyon are the only team to win all four of their games. Arsenal and Bayern Munich could match the French club's feat today.
Norway international John Carew scored two with Juninho and Mahamadou Diarra scoring the others for Lyon.
Real Madrid went ahead 1-0 on an own-goal by Mikael Dorsin in the 26th, with Guti making it 2-0 in the 41st.
Martin was the hero in Seville, scoring just three minutes after replacing fellow striker Ricardo Oliveira. He took a pass from Jesus Capitan, beat Chelsea defender William Gallas and then scored behind goalkeeper Petr Cech. Chelsea have failed to win in six straight away games in the Champions League.
OTHER ADVANCES
Struggling in the English league, Liverpool's Morientes, Garcia and Cisse scored to overwhelm Anderlecht.
Liverpool dominated every phase of the game and probably should have scored more.
In Group E, PSV took the lead over AC Milan on Jefferson Foran's early goal. PSV moved up to seven points and Milan stayed on five.
Schalke also moved up to five points, beating Fenerbahce 2-0 on Kevin Kuranyi's goal in the 32nd, and a second-half injury-time clincher by Ebbe Sand. Fenerbahce stayed on four points.
In Group H, Inter Milan neared the second stage with a 2-1 victory over Porto in an empty San Siro stadium. Inter lead the group with nine points.
Substitute Julio Ricardo Cruz scored twice to rally Inter to the victory after Hugo Almeida gave Porto a lead in the 16th. Porto stayed on three points.
The match was played behind closed doors as Inter served the third of a four-match ban.
Their Champions League quarter-final with AC Milan last season was suspended when a fan threw a flare that hit Milan goalkeeper Dida.
Rangers drew 2-2 at Artmedia Bratislava with both improving to five points. Dado Prso and Steven Thompson scored for Rangers, and Balazs Borbely and Jan Kozak answered for Artmedia.
Today it's FC Brugge vs. Rapid Vienna and Juventus vs. Bayern Munich in Group A; Arsenal vs. Sparta Prague and FC Thun vs. Ajax in Group B; FC Barcelona vs. Panathinaikos and Werder Bremen vs. Udinese in Group C; Benfica vs. Villarreal and Lille vs. Manchester United in Group D.
