Bayern Munich’s short-lived adventure in this season’s Champions League, came to an abrupt halt in Spain last night when a 2-1 defeat to Deporivo La Coruna saw Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side crash out of the competition.
Needing a win to have any chance of progressing to the next phase, Bayern were in contention until the 89th minute when Roy Makaay produced a late winner for Deportivo.
Earlier, Victor Sanchez had earlier given the Spanish side a 54th-minute lead which Roque Santa Cruz cancelled out on 77 minutes.
To add insult to Bayern’s injury, the defeat means they finish bottom of the group and therefore miss out on a place in the UEFA Cup.
The win improved Deportivo’s chances of moving into the next stage but Lens’ victory over Milan means that the issue will not be settled until the final round of matches is played in a fortnight’s time.
Lens came from behind to beat Milan, who are definitely through, 2-1. Andriy Shevchenko put the Italian ahead only for Lens to strike back through Daniel Moreira four minutes before the break. John Utaka struck the home side’s second on 49 mminutes to leave them two points behind Deportivo ahead of final games against Bayern and Milan respectively.
Marco Di Vaio scored both goals in Juventus’ 2-0 win over Feyenoord, a result which sealed their place in the next round.
In the night’s other Group E match Newcastle United came from behind to overcome Dynamo Kyiv 2-1. Maksim Shatskikh put the Ukrainian side ahead two minutes after the interval but Gary Speed equalised with a diving header before Alan Shearer’s penalty on 69 minutes, earned the points for Sir Bobby Robson’s side. Newcastle, Feyenoord and Dynamo will all now go into the final round of matches with a chance of joining Juventus in the next stage.
Last season’s losing finalists Bayer Leverkusen progressed to the next stage from Group F after beating Olympiakos 2-0. Goals from Juan and Bernd Schneider’s secured the points.
Manchester United, already through to the next stage, lost 3-0 to Maccabi Haifa courtesy of fierce strikes from Yaniv Katan and Raimondas Zutautas and a Yakubu Ayegbeni penalty.
Barcelona are the only team left in the competition with a 100% record after they overcame Club Brugge 1-0 in Belgium.
However, the Belgians are still second on six points, with Galatasaray and Lokomotiv Moskva a point behind them on four points after the Russians won 2-1 in Istanbul. On Matchday Six Lokomotiv will host Brugge while Galatasaray travel to Spain to play Barcelona.
