Zenit St. Petersburg secured its place in the round of 16 with a win at Lyon, while Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Porto and Olympiakos also won on Wednesday, staying on track to advance.
Arsenal remains in trouble and is on the brink of elimination after losing 5-1 to Bayern Munich in Germany.
Neymar and Luis Suarez continued their excellent scoring form to make up for the absence of Lionel Messi and help Barcelona move closer to the round of 16 with an easy 3-0 win over BATE Borisov.
With Messi watching from the Nou Camp stands, Neymar converted a penalty on the half-hour mark, then set up Suarez’s strike in the 60th and scored his second goal in the 83rd after an assist by the Uruguayan striker.
Since Messi tore a left-knee ligament on Sept. 26, Neymar and Suarez have combined for 17 of Barcelona’s 20 goals.
Barcelona leads the group with 10 points, five more than Roma, which moved into second place thanks to the late win over Leverkusen, which stayed on four points, one more than BATE.
“The aim was to win and the victory gives us a great chance to seal our qualification,” Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta said.
Thomas Mueller scored two goals as Bayern dominated Arsenal in Bavaria, while Felipe Pardo scored both goals for Olympiakos as it rallied to beat 10-man Dinamo Zagreb 2-1.
Bayern and Olympiakos reached nine points, while Arsenal and Dinamo stayed with three each with two games remaining.
“It was a key match for us that we wanted to win,” Mueller said.
Willian produced a late winner as Chelsea fans put on a show of support for embattled manager Jose Mourinho, scoring from a free kick to earn a victory over Kiev.
A four-game winless run in all competitions had ratcheted the pressure on Mourinho, whose future at Stamford Bridge has appeared to be jeopardized by off-field issues accompanying the poor results.
“From the mental point of view it was important,” Mourinho said. “A reaction to a negative moment.”
Zenit maintained its perfect record in the Champions League and reached the knockout phase with a 2-0 win at Lyon.
Artem Dzyuba scored a brace from a couple of assists by Hulk as the Russian side produced its fourth win in as many matches for its best start ever in the competition.
Zenit secured its place in the last 16 with two games to spare, leading second-place Valencia by six points after the Spanish side lost 1-0 to Gent in the group’s other match. Gent is third with four points, while Lyon is last with one.
Lyon still has a chance to advance but it will need to win its last two matches and hope other results go its way.
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